Second Chances
by chimericaldreams
Summary: AR. Prue had a little girl who she left behind. When Pattie casts a spell to rid her of her pain, she is accidently sent to the past. Now she has the choice to change her future forever. Can she do it, knowing the consequences? NOW COMPLETE! R&R!
1. Prologue: Meet Pattie Halliwell

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of the characters, except the one or two I made up that are my own.

**A little background for the story: Patricia Halliwell is the product of one night between Prue and Andy and is 15 during 2008. Since she is technically the first child of a new generation, Pattie is very powerful, like Wyatt. Otherwise, just follow along for the rest. Enjoy!**

_Prudence Halliwell was the rare rose in a bed of daises. She was much sought after, a beautiful flower that captured everyone's attention. However, Prue was one of those who, no matter how stunning, definitely had the thorns that you never wanted to come in contact with. Hurt her family and you could be sure to suffer the consequences that would befall you. I can say that too, because I have the proud honor of being her daughter._

_When you look at yourself in the mirror and can't see your own face looking back at you, it's safe to say that something isn't right. For me, strangely, that had always been normal. After all, everyone always said I'm exactly like my mom, right down to the chestnut brown hair and stubborn personality. After awhile I think I started to believe it myself, that every move I took paralleled hers and her words were mine. It's scary, really, but somewhere along the line I think I wanted to believe that I could step into her shoes, if anything to make her proud, to prove that I was the strong, confident child she'd raised._

_I admit it; I wanted to live up to the legend, the one she'd abandoned when she left me behind._

_I wanted her back desperately. Not for the innocents, not for the power, but for the mother I didn't get to grow up to know. Every time I saw a mother shopping with her teenage daughter for the girl's prom dress, or a preteen sitting on a bench eating ice cream with her mom my heart ached for her. There are the things I could learn from my aunts, but there would always be those minor moments where her presence was the only piece that would fit into the empty space of the puzzle that is my life._

_I didn't want to hear 'you're her carbon copy' from one of my aunts anymore because it just reminded me that our lives are so equivalent because then that lingering fear returned._

_I, somehow, someway, was going to end up like her._

_Denial is the easiest way of living because soon you've drowned yourself so deep in lies that they begin to make sense to you. I had to know I couldn't escape the fate of the Halliwell women before me. In my world you have to lose something before you realize how much that sacrifice could really affect you. In becoming lost myself…I found that I was a lot different then I expected._

_I thought I knew myself pretty well for a teenager. But after all of these experiences, in the magical world, I guess nothing is the way it seems._

**That's just the prologue, chapter 1 will come if I get reviews. I know this is short but the chapters will be longer. I hope you guys like the idea and the story!**


	2. 1: Constant Reminders

She stood staring at the figure on the other side of the glass. It was almost reminiscent of a perfect picture; the teenager with a sapphire gown draped all the way down to her midnight black heels, which barely showed. Her sun-streaked auburn hair had been straightened to the equivalent of a pin and the color almost matched her chestnut brown eyes, which glimmered in reflection of the sun. From the girl's neck hung a double-drop star pendent off of a silver chain. Completing her formal attire was the traditional matching sapphire cap with the golden tassel dangling over the side. Yes, this looked like a picture perfect moment.

_Perfect, right, _fifteen-year-oldPatricia Halliwell thought to herself, attempting to prop a counterfeit smile on her face, and make the girl in the mirror appear more believably happy. But it was no use, and the grin faded as instantly as it had emerged. Removing the graduation cap from her head and tossing it onto the dresser adjacent to her, Pattie plopped herself on her bed and sighed.

"That would be a miracle."

A light summer breeze entered Pattie's bedroom through the window, but even that coinciding with the shining sun and the sweet tune of the birds wasn't enough to make Pattie give an honest smile.

For her entire life, Pattie Halliwell had been living in the shadow of one of the most powerful witches who had ever existed. Even when the shadow had vanished seven years ago, she'd still felt like her purpose in life was to make her mother proud, because in some way she knew Prue was always watching her, taking too much pride in the little girl she'd raised to do anything else. Pattie had talked to spirits; she knew they could keep an eye on loved ones after they passed, and if anyone would be monitoring her, she knew it'd be Prue.

She turned around, noting the date on the calendar, circled three times in red ink, May 17.

"I love how my life is just one ironic coincidence after another," she mumbled angrily.

Seven years ago a demon had claimed her mother's life on this date. Now, as her ninth grade graduation into high school approached, she felt unstable and ready to shatter.

"They couldn't have picked a better day to celebrate life and growing up," Pattie sighed, a single tear creating a river down her cheek. Before it could settle and stain her skin she wiped it away. As one of the only schools in California that started high school in tenth grade, rather than ninth, she'd waited long enough for her chance to start high school, to be taken as a more mature person. Her aunts loved her, but that didn't always mean they would listen to her when it came to demon vanquishes, even though half the time Pattie found herself right anyway. She knew that when she entered high school, and eventually college, she would be seen as more than a child, because they couldn't fight the fact that she was growing up.

Now that the chance was here, she wasn't going to let it slip away. Looking to her right Pattie saw a purple frame adorned with plastic jewels and buttons that she'd made Prue made as a Mother's Day gift when she was in preschool. Inside the frame was a picture from a family picnic. The tears welled up in her eyes as she stared into those of the little girl with curly chestnut hair clinging to her mother and smiling. It was true; they were one in the same, as if they came in the same package, as if they couldn't be separated.

"And yet somehow, that happened anyway," she spoke aloud.

Then, suddenly, she heard the voice of Prue play back in her head, telling her to stop sitting around and waiting, to go out and live, look for a chance at something. She felt a hauntingly real presence fill the room.

"You always did know just what to say to make me feel better, didn't you?" Pattie asked, glancing around the room, and then heading downstairs to look for her family.

As her heels made a clamor against the oak staircase, she listened for the sounds of her family buzzing about the household. Pattie figured of all places to find Piper, the kitchen was probably top choice. After all, who else but the top chef of the family would be fixing a perfect meal for her graduation party?

Her suspicions were confirmed; walking discreetly into the kitchen, Pattie hung out by the door while Piper chopped up olives, tomatoes and cucumbers to add to one of her most delectable dishes, a taco salad. As she finished the salad and set it off to the side, moving on to whatever else she has stored for tonight, Pattie saw her chance to sneak a taste.

Piper, still unaware of Pattie's presence, continued with her cooking, while she snatched a tortilla chip from a china bowl and cautious slip across the room to the salad. Just as she was about to send the chip plunging into it, Pattie felt her place her hands on her own shoulders and a whisper came in Pattie's ear, "do it and I'll blow you up."

"You wouldn't," she gasped, turning around.

"Try me."

Suddenly Pattie's appetite disappeared. _It's strange how persuasive she can be sometimes, _she thought slyly. "But it looks so good…that salad is just begging me to eat it! Can't you hear it calling me?"

Piper wipes her hands on a dishtowel and secures plastic wrap over the container before Pattie can manage to grab some of the salad. "Yeah well, tell it to leave a message."

"You're mean."

Piper couldn't help but watch Pattie as she went to the refrigerator and retrieved a drink from it. It was hard to believe the little girl who she'd sent off to kindergarten, done elementary school science projects with, and then taken to her first school dance was going to enter high school in only a matter of months.

It scared her, in so many ways, to see Pattie grow up.

Pattie caught Piper's eyes, "What?"

"You just…" she trailed off, looking for the right words.

"Look so much like my mom?" she replied.

Piper stifled her laughter. "Always," she agreed, pulling her niece close to her, knowing that all of Pattie's thoughts were lying on Prue today, there was no way to tiptoe around that. "You've just grown up so quickly I guess," Piper decided. Then, she added, "You know she'd be proud of you, right?"

Pattie nodded, trying to avoid becoming emotional again.

When Piper returned to her cooking, Pattie wandered out of the kitchen and into the living room where her little cousins were spread out on the floor, engrossed in their own separate activities. Baby Penny, the youngest of Piper's children, gurgled from her rocker. Chris, nearly four was coloring a picture near the backyard doors, and Wyatt, at six, had two action figures busy in some sort of brawl. She watched them, picking out traits from each that resembled Piper's.

Pattie wondered how much she looked like Prue at a year, four years, even six. She struggled to remember, had her own mother used to say that they were one in the same?

_Why is it so hard to keep my mind off of mom? Today's supposed to be easy, fun, _she told herself.

The door slammed, and Phoebe's voice echoed from somewhere else in the manor. As Pattie left in search of Phoebe, she wished again for Prue, knowing that she didn't have a chance at that coming true.

But that's the thing with wishes and magic, somehow they all have ways of coming true.

**Hope everyone enjoyed this. Not much action yet, that starts next chapter, I just wanted to set everything up here. More reviews equal more chapters! **


	3. 2: Spells Gone Awry

As the last of the part guests shuffled out the doorway, Pattie could hear her aunts bidding friends goodbye. Her closest companion, Emily, who she had not only known since they were toddlers, but shared her destiny as a witch, had been the last to leave and soon only a few of her aunts' own friends remained behind.

The graduation had been a success, the party even better. But the date still stuck in her mind, and halfway through a dance with her boyfriend, Pattie decided it was time to rid her mind of the pain.

She stood in the attic doorway, leaning against the wooden frame, gazing at the one piece of ancestral history that existed for her family: the Book of Shadows. Downstairs her aunts were distracted. She could easily sneak it to her room without being discovered. But as she crossed the room and was ready to lay her hands over the book, a voice shook Pattie from her thoughts.

"Hey, kid."

Frightened, Pattie turned around. "Billie!" she shouted as this site of the blonde-haired college girl walking her way. Billie enveloped her in a hug as Pattie cried, "You nearly scared me half to death."

"That isn't hard to do." She ruffled Pattie's hair. "You looked beautiful today. The speech was wonderful."

"Even when I messed up?" she winced. A graduation speech hadn't been her idea, but she'd tried to move past it in stride. Still, somewhere along the line she'd lost her place and nearly fallen apart in front of everyone.

But Billie just shook her head. "I didn't even notice."

"Liar."

"I'm serious," Billie replied. "I'm not surprised anyway; Phoebe told me your mom had a great gift for language and public speaking. Those things usually show up over generations."

Her face stricken with irritation, Pattie let her hair fall over her face to conceal the sting of the remark. Billie caught it anyway. "Aw, man. I shouldn't have said that, huh?"

Pattie waved her hand at Billie, brushing the situation away. "Don't worry about it." Pattie drummed her fingers on the thick cover of the Book of Shadows, watching Billie fumbling through potion bottles. The girl was always looking for a new concoction to brew or spell to cast. An idea came to her. "Hey…Billie," she started. Billie glanced back at her.

"Yeah?"

"Aunt Piper got these great new spices the other day for me to practice potion-making with. But you seem so interested in them," she added a fake laugh to make the story more plausible, "you can test some if you want."

Luckily for Pattie, Billie didn't think twice. "Well, if you're positive you don't mind…" she started, planting a kiss on Pattie's forehead, already halfway out of the room.

"Too easy." Blowing a wisp of hair from her eyes, Pattie heaved the book off of its stand. "This house needs a few less people occupying it," she groaned, leaving the attic and heading towards her bedroom where privacy could be ensured.

Pattie entered her room and dropped onto the soft comforter of her bed. She opened the book, skimming for anything that might come to her aid. A knock on the door made her jump.

"Pattie?" Paige's voice called.

Slamming the book shut and quickly shoving it under her pillow, the atmosphere tensed. She grabbed her remote and turned the TV on, laying back on top of her pillows, feeling the secret hidden beneath. "Come in."

Paige and Phoebe slipped through the doorway. Pattie welcomed them both with a hug, each sitting down on either side. Fear flashed through Pattie's eyes as the pillow slid forward, but thankfully it didn't alter enough to reveal the book. _I'd be dead if they found out, _she mused, _they'd want me to tell them every little detail._

"Is anything wrong?" Phoebe queried, the sympathy brimming within her. She loved Prue, and missed her equally, but it was always harder on the daughter, she knew from experience.

"Nothing," Pattie lied. _Just everything, _she thought.

"Well," Paige began. "I'd say today was a success, we're so proud of you."

"For?"

"Just being a good kid, especially considering the circumstances," Paige replied, rubbing Pattie's arm.

Pattie laughed, "Yeah, being magical isn't exactly the prime subject at the lunch table."

Phoebe ran her fingers through her niece's hair as she'd done for years. "Don't grow up too quickly."

Attempting to be encouraging, Pattie took Phoebe's hand. "I love you. And I'm ready to begin a new chapter to my life, to grow up. But I'm not graduating college; I'm just going to high school. I want to start fresh." Both women smiled. "Now, go home and enjoy yourselves. I'll be just fine resting after a great party."

Once they'd said farewells and finally dismissed themselves, Pattie sighed. _Casting this spell isn't wrong, is it? This isn't __**my **__personal gain…right?_

She flipped the page, recovering the Fearless Spell that her aunt had created years ago during crisis. Tempted, she flattened her hands across the page until a pang of guilt ran over her. Remembering the frustration it had caused her family and the consequences that had befallen Piper, Pattie decided against it.

Page after page, spell following spell, Pattie grumbled in aggravation. "Come on, come on, there must be something here that can help me."

When all else failed and she was down to her last option, Pattie gave in and closed the book. She laid back on her bed, pulling open her nightstand drawer and recovering a lined notepad from inside of it. Grabbing a pen off of a pile of her books, Pattie did her best to string an assortment of words together into a fluid passage. Spells had never come to mind easily for Pattie, they had fallen under Phoebe's strong suit and she usually covered any and every spell dilemma when it came to demons and magic. Pattie scribbled down a few words, only to scratch them out a moment later.

This wasn't going to work.

But just as she was about to throw the pad and surrender to her panic, her eyes caught that purple picture frame and that frozen instant of time, the eyes of the young child staring back at her. Would she have given up?

Once again determined, Pattie fell forward onto her elbows and forced her mind to focus. When there was finally a spell fully dictated in black ink sitting clearly in front of her, Pattie made sure her door was shut. She dimmed her lights and then activated her IPod from its Ihome so that soft music filled the atmosphere. If her aunts thought she was asleep, they wouldn't surely bother her.

"This one's for you mom."

With a heart full of hope, she began to chant:

_Across the universe far and wide_

_Where my fears dwell and anguish hides_

_All of this worry, all of this strife_

_Needs to be banished from my life_

_Free my aching heart on this quest for peace._

_Let myself go and my pain release._

The paper crumpled in her hand as her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she was taken away, falling into a deep slumber before her body was whisked away completely. She'd vanished from her room, her home, and her time all in one second.

When Pattie reappeared and regained consciousness, she found herself behind the couch in the conservatory. She sat up, confused. Peering at the outside windows where sunlight poured in, Pattie had to shield her eyes. _Wasn't it just evening? Where did all of the party supplies go?_

A round of cries sounded from upstairs. Rubbing her eyes, and getting onto her feet, Pattie was nearly ready to call for Piper, but another voice stopped her. She shrank down behind the coach again.

"Patricia! I said that Emily's house was off limits tonight. You break the rules you suffer the consequences. There will be no costume party," she heard Phoebe yell, crossing the foyer into the kitchen.

"Emily's costume party?" Pattie whispered. "That was years ago." She smiled at the memory, knowing that in the end she'd wound up going anyway. Pouting worked every time. She wondered what kind of trick Phoebe was pulling.

"But Aunt Phoebe!!!" a shriek came following. "Moooommmmyy," it moaned again.

Pattie cautiously peeked over the couch she was situated behind. Her jaw dropped at the sight of a little girl, her younger self, skipping across the floor in a white flower skirt and pink top. Her mind reeled more when she saw the figure behind her. "Patricia Elizabeth Halliwell, you heard what your aunt said, and that goes for me too, babe." Suddenly the figure scooped her up from behind and her face came into view. "Why don't you go get your homework and we'll get you to school.

"Mom!" she screamed, muffling her voice just in time before anyone could hear.

Little Pattie ran into the conservatory, Pattie realized, to pull her homework off the coffee table. She was humming the tune to something Prue would play when she used to fall asleep as a child, but the name escaped her. Every memory came flooding back.

When she pulled herself up long enough to gaze at her younger self, their eyes met.

Little Pattie let out an ear-shattering scream.

"Oh man," the older girl muttered, sinking against the back of the sofa. How had this happened? She'd wanted to take her pain, not take herself away…to the past.

"Well, I see we have a visitor." Pattie looked up to see Phoebe hovering over her, hands placed on her hips, looking quite intimidating.

Pressing her palm to her forehead, Pattie whimpered. "What have I done?"

**It's coming along, are you ready for the next chapter? I love writing this, I hope you like reading it! More reviews for Chapter 3, please!**


	4. 3: And So We Meet Again

Mistakes.

Pattie unwrinkled the piece of paper with her hand-written spell and stared at it. The words, they seemed perfectly credible as a spell that got the job done. If she'd taken one of her uncle's classes at Magic School, he would have passed her with flying colors.

Well, the spell got the job done, but not in the easiest of ways.

If Phoebe had said it once she'd said it a million times, spells always found their way of working out. They did what you asked, although it wasn't always the way you had planned.

She sat at the kitchen table of the Manor, breathing labored and heavily. Phoebe had sent Prue out the door with the younger version of herself and then called Piper home from the club. For now, Pattie had been spared the pain of facing the person she'd lost years ago, but she would still need to do some explaining to Piper and Phoebe, which could be worse on so many levels. Phoebe was sweet when she was on your side, but if you were under her suspicion, God help you that she didn't vanquish you on spot.

When the door hinges creaked from the hallway, the same door, she remembered, that Piper was always nagging Leo to fix, Pattie stuffed the paper into her jean pockets and folded her arms. She bowed her head and closed her eyes; no words no eye contact. Piper's boots clicked against the entryway floor.

"So, I don't exactly understand what you mean by, 'we have a visitor'," she said, placing her coat over her arm and meeting Phoebe at the arc to the dining room.

Pattie heard Phoebe's voice echo an answer, "Yeah, neither do I."

Both women crossed the foyer and found themselves in the kitchen, staring down at their mysterious guest.

"So this is…" Phoebe began, and then stopped, looking to Pattie to finish for her. Pattie didn't, she just squeezed her eyes shut tighter, as if she could disappear. Actually, that option did exist to Pattie had she been in her own time. Her invisibility had been an extended version of her astral projection power. She'd gone from projecting herself from one place to another to disappearing completely. But there wasn't a chance her invisibility would work.

Now she wondered how much she'd taken her powers for granted.

"…she hasn't exactly told me who she is."

"Or where you've come from," Piper asked, slamming down a hand on the table and frightening Pattie, who snapped her head up. She flashed Piper eyes filled with anxiety. Piper pulled out a chair and took a seat. "Look, sweetie, giving us the silent treatment isn't going to help you at all. You owe us an explanation, don't you think?"

Pattie clamped her lips shut even more and Piper sighed, this wouldn't be easy. Piper observed the unexplained girl, wondering her true identity. They were being extra cautious, seeing as a demon always had the ability to impersonate someone else, but she seemed genuinely scared to them.

"Is someone after you?" Phoebe asked, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, trying to coax the truth from her.

Pattie fingered her hair nervously. _Just my aunts when they find out what I've done, _she thought to herself miserably. Then Pattie froze, could they know who she was? After all of the endless comments on how much she resembled Prue, were they seeing that now?

She glanced up at Phoebe, who brought herself down to Pattie's level. "Honey, we're not going to let anyone hurt you. If you're afraid of something, or someone, you need to tell us."

She was afraid, but not of demons, though that was a conceivable fear seeing as this little time travel had rendered her powerless. The seven-year-old Pattie of 2000 had her powers now, so she needn't worry about them exposing her. Her mind was fixed solely on reuniting with her mother, painful as it might be she knew that was the point of this whole messed up spell, it would probably be what got her home.

When all of their efforts failed, Piper and Phoebe took a minute to converse. She saw them whispering, doing her best to eavesdrop inconspicuously.

"Do you think she's hiding something important?" Piper queried, an uneasy gaze Pattie's way.

"She's a teenager, aren't they all hiding something?" Phoebe replied.

"Yeah, but still, for all we know she could be a demon."

"I highly doubt that Piper, they don't usually sink to a level of silence."

"Well," Piper suggested, "why don't we use the truth spell and figure out once and for all?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Pushing herself out of the chair while her aunts still had their backs turned, Pattie turned and darted from the kitchen, heading straight for the doorway before either had a chance to react.

_If they cast that spell, it'll all be over, _Pattie knew. _I can't let them find out; it'd be life-changing._

But as Pattie threw herself out the door and down the concrete stairway, she tripped, and found herself landing straight in Prue's arms. However, instead of recoiling back, she let herself fall vulnerable. In an instant her priorities had shifted. "Oh," Prue yelped, steadying Pattie before she could collapse to the pavement. "I guess you're the visitor Phoebe was telling me about, huh?" she smiled.

Pattie ran her hand through her hair, moving it behind her ear, a nervous habit. "Yeah."

"Well that saying 'someone drops in', I guess you take that literally," she laughed, then noticed that Pattie had gone pale. Taking her hand, she asked. "Are you all right?" Pattie nodded, gaping at her mother.

_This is going well, _she told herself sarcastically. _Just don't blurt anything out and you'll be fine. _"

"Well, come on then, let's go inside," Prue started, pulling Pattie along. Pattie thought of the Truth Spell.

"Wait, no! I don't want to go back in there, don't make me," she begged helplessly. Prue looked at her with confusion, and Pattie, seeing no other option, used the awkward moment to make a run for it. She bolted down the front yard, past the driveway and was halfway down the street when she felt Prue's arms wrap around her waist and pull her backwards. "Let me go!" she screamed, although deep down Pattie was comforted by her mother's embrace. It was so long awaited. _Why am I running? _She had to ask herself. The answer was to get away, but from what? The Halliwells were obviously no threat to her, and even if she got away, where would she go? Pattie needed the book or Prue to get her home, there was no use relying on her own magic when it had screwed her over the first time around.

Feeling Prue's arms still around her waist, Pattie was absorbing her mother's compassion and concern over her own well-being. It stabbed her heart like a knife to feel the tender care, everything she missed and hadn't been able to feel for the past seven years. She tried to yank herself free from Prue's grasp, it was the only way to keep from breaking down, but there was no chance, Prue had her arms locked around Pattie.

"Calm down," she said soothingly, "Stop fighting me."

"Let me go!"

Prue had an idea. "All right," she agreed, and disentangled her arms so that Pattie, trying to worm her way free, was sent flying down to the pavement, hitting it with a thud. She moaned, rubbing her arm. "Well, you asked for it," Prue scolded, lending Pattie a hand and helping her get to her feet.

Pattie found herself nearly smiling, that was such a cocky sort of move, and it fit her mother so well.

Still, when Prue went to put an arm around her, she flinched and withdrew.

Prue threw her arms back, an act of surprise. "I'm not going to hurt you. Come on, just come over here and sit down." She gestured to the second set of stairs at the end of the front yard, making sure not to come in contact with the girl at risk of her running off again. Pattie stared at her for a moment, and then finally let her walls down, joining Prue.

Clasping her hands together, Prue waited for a minute or two until she realized she was going to need to lead the conversation. "So, why don't we start off with something simple? My name is Prue, you wanna tell me yours?"

_Not really, _Pattie thought. Hesitating for a second, Pattie said the first thing that came to mind. "Elizabeth." _It's not really a lie, _she considered unconvincingly, _Elizabeth_ is_ my middle name._

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"And where do you live?"

"Well, I was born in North Beach but that's all I'm going to give you."

That was something, but Prue pushed for more. "Don't you think your parents are going to be worrying about where you are?"

Pattie strived for cryptic answers where she didn't have to lie but could stray from the truth. It was unsettling, the thought of lying to her own mother, despite the fact that that was the basic teenage code. Choosing her words carefully, Pattie explained, "My dad is dead, and my mom will know she doesn't need to worry about me."

"You look exhausted," Prue noted, reaching out and warily taking Pattie's hand. Pattie nearly retreated again but this time thought better of it. For once, she let herself enjoy Prue's presence. After all, hadn't that been what she wanted all along? "You're shaking too. Are you running from someone?"

"No," she replied immediately.

"Well, then how did you end up in my house?"

"I…I don't know," Pattie answered, completely honest. She didn't know, and she was running her emotions ragged, that much was true.

"Sooner or later you're going to have to tell my sisters and me what is going on," Prue said more sternly. But she realized she'd pushed too far when Pattie shrank back even more.

"I...I can't…I-," she started, confused more than ever. Her feelings could stay rooted one way for more than a minute before the winds altered. The spell had been cast for the prime reason to rid Pattie of her pain, but when it took her face to face with the one thing causing that, she began to allow the comfort from Prue, then retreated. _Why can't I just decide what I want?_

Prue interrupted her rambling. "All right, all right," she placed her hands on Pattie's shoulders leading her up the stairs towards the house. "Let's just get you inside."

Upon entering the household, Pattie instantly realized the reason Piper and Phoebe hadn't been on her tail after she'd run out of the kitchen. She'd assumed they'd chase her, but had failed to show. Now it was apparent why, they'd been a bit held back.

A lower level demon was on one end of the household, Piper and Phoebe struggling for their lives on the other. Walking in at the wrong end of the room, the demon growled and instantly flipped to the entering witches, throwing an energy ball Prue and Pattie's way. Both Prue and Pattie shrieked and then ducked, narrowing avoiding the oncoming destruction.

"Elizabeth, get upstairs, now," Prue commanded, nudging her towards the staircase.

"No, I can help," Pattie replied, determined though she was well aware the risk without her powers.

But Prue was firm, "I said get out of here!"

Reluctantly she sprinted towards the stairs, pounding her feet up the first few but stopping and shrinking behind the rail, gripping the bars and watching the mayhem.

"You think you can come in here and steal the Book of Shadows while were at work don't you?" Prue asked, using her hand to send the demon flying, "Well surprise, surprise, we're home. No luck for you today, pal." He crashed with a grunt into the Grandfather clock, glass shattering and embedding itself into his back.

"Ah, come on, we just fixed that damn clock!" Piper yelled furiously.

"Dirty little witch!" he roared, rising back up and wielding an athamae Phoebe's way. She levitated, the blade flying underneath her and landing quickly in the wall above Pattie's head. He was angered by his lack of ability to complete the task at hand. Stealing the book was one thing, but killing the Charmed Ones would be greater.

Phoebe returned to the Earth, a sly look drawing across her face. "Is that the best you've got?"

"I _will _kill you and steal your powers," he threatened, hurling another energy ball towards Prue, but she just deflected it, moving it back in his path. It clipped his shoulder and he fell to the ground in agony.

"Such a hollow threat," Piper taunted, using her available time to freeze the demon. She looked to her sisters for suggestions. "What now?

Before they had the chance to come up with a spell or potion, the forgotten athamae flew towards them, hitting the demon square in the chest. He went up in flames, each dying breath filled with the screams of torture. Finally they dissipated all together, leaving behind the usual remnants of debris and scorch marks.

Prue grabbed Phoebe's hand and the two gathered with Piper to examine the damage. Prue picked up a piece of the demolished clock. "The repair guy probably lives off of our calls alone," she muttered.

"But I don't understand," Piper said. "We didn't do anything."

It was Phoebe who turned around and noticed Pattie descending the stairs, half stunned, half satisfied that she'd worked with her mom and aunts to thwart another demon's plans. "I guess she did."

Pattie had been given a well-deserved reprieve for the meantime. She was curled up on the living room couch with a blanket draped over her, attempting to get at least a few hours of sleep before she'd have to fabricate a credible story for the Halliwell sisters.

Clutching the soft blanket to her chest, she wondered if anyone had discovered her absence in her own time. Of all people, Piper was the most likely and she hoped that whoever the lucky person was that would discover her missing didn't jump to the conclusion that she'd been kidnapped by demons. Either way, she was expecting a lecture upon arriving back home, however that would happen. Pattie just hoped she hadn't dug herself too deep that she would soon have an impending burial in this metaphorical hole. If that happened, she'd have to come clean to get home, and Pattie wasn't sure that she could handle it.

She thought of possibly summoning Patty or Penny, either might have some advice for her to get back on her own, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to risk exposure through that either.

Rolling over and groaning, Pattie once again thought back to 2008. She thought of Paige. Oh how much Pattie missed her, her quirkiness could come in handy for a good smile right about now.

Soon enough Pattie drifted off to sleep, but the peacefulness of her dreams was not long-lasting. She was plagued by the memories which flickered on and off at the drop of a hat. The hum of Prue singing her to sleep as a baby flashed to the funeral service where they had been attacked by demons. A distant memory of Pattie learning how to ride her bike at Golden Gate Park quickly morphed to the ravenous face of Shax as the newly reconstituted Power of Three finally ended his reign of terror. She had Prue now, but could she accept the fact that soon enough she might be whisked back to her own time. Could she deal with losing her all over again?

Inundated by the haunting recollections, her arms flailed and Pattie began yelling. "No! Stop! Don't leave!" her feeble cries ricocheted, floating through the household into the Conservatory where Prue had her feet up on a footrest and a laptop rested in her lap.

Upon hearing the whimpers, she slammed the computer closed, set it aside and quickly found Pattie on the floor, still quivering and moaning, repeating the same requests over and over. "Please stay, don't go…," it went on."

"Elizabeth," Prue called, doing her best to gather the grief-stricken teen into her arms and help her back up onto the couch. It didn't reach Pattie, who didn't recognize that as her name. "Elizabeth, settle down, you're okay," Prue consoled her, as Pattie finally awoke from her dreams to find that she was, again, in Prue's arms. "I'm here."

"Don't go," she mumbled, barely able to calm herself. Pattie pressed her face into Prue's shoulder and sobbed hysterically. It didn't matter anymore, it was too much, she didn't want to be apart from her mom any longer. She didn't have to know who Pattie was, but Pattie knew. She flung her arms around Prue, holding tight and afraid to let go. Still, she cried, for every second they'd been apart, every lost memory, every bit of Prue's love that soaked through her, and every wish that had finally come true.

Prue didn't know why Pattie was upset, but she did what she'd done the times her own little girl woke up with a nightmare and just let her ride out the fear. She didn't realize who had crawled into her embrace. "I'm not going anywhere," she promised.

_Yes, _Pattie thought through each tear, _you are._

**Not quite a cliffhanger, but pretty emotional. I hope everyone liked it! The suspense continues to build next chapter. Want to read it? Then you must review! I want to know how I'm doing here! **


	5. 4: Now You Know

**This one got a little longer, but prior warning: the names might get confusing. I tried my best to keep them straight but it was all the same name. You'll understand what I mean when you read.**

"Here, this should help calm you down," Prue said lightly, carrying a cup of hot chocolate into the living room with Phoebe and Piper at her heels. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed Pattie staring at a picture of her daughter in a sequined leotard and skirt from her dance recital a few years back. She looked at it with eyes lit up, but turned around to see the sisters and her smile faded.

Almost embarrassed, she set the picture back down on the table and scooted away from it. "Your daughter is really cute," she said with an uncomfortable tone in her voice, like she'd been caught stealing.

"Thank you, she'll be home from school in a little bit" Prue replied, sitting down Pattie and handing her the cup of steaming liquid. As Pattie brought it to her lips, her hands cringed, sending a few drops of liquid flying at both her and Prue, who gasped.

Pattie coughed, choking on what she'd managed to swallow, and then sent an apologetic look Prue's way. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm still a little shaky from the nightmare," she supposed, trying not to think of the horrible memories and just concentrate on the fact that her mother was here for the meantime.

She'd expected Prue to be upset and scold her, but she just grabbed a handful of napkins from the coffee table and offered them to Pattie. "That's okay, don't worry about it."

"So," Pattie began, trying to meander away from the topic of her arrival in 2000, "what's your daughter's name?"

"Patricia," Prue said, a fond glance at the same picture Pattie had just held in her hands. Pattie remembered how much pride Prue had always instilled in her as a child, that never changed.

"But don't let her hear you call her that," Piper interrupted with a grin.

"Oh, she doesn't like it?" Pattie played along. She'd never let anyone call her Patricia, it reminded her too much of her grandmother, who was after all her namesake. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe had all lost her at a young age, and she feared that they wanted her, in some way, to live up to the name of their mother. That was hard enough for Pattie; especially when she was too busy trying to fill _her _mother's shoes.

Piper laid back, "I feel bad for the poor soul that makes the mistake of calling her Patricia without realizing and has her unleash her wrath on them."

"Yeah," Phoebe put in, "We use it on her when she's in trouble but that's about it. The name came from our mother. We lost her at a young age, so it was appropriate tribute to her. She's a fireball, my niece"

_Is that a compliment? _Pattie pondered as she nodded with understanding. "I get it. I love the name, but I guess I, like her, just find Pattie a whole lot more fitting."

"She'd be happy to hear that someone was on her side," Prue laughed, pulling Pattie over to her. "Now, let's get on to the subject that you've been trying to avoid here. What had you so scared?"

"Nothing," Pattie muttered.

"Something," Phoebe replied, getting up and sitting on the coffee table opposite Pattie. "Elizabeth, we're not pressing for any information about how you got here right now because you helped us kill a demon, for which you are rewarded. But you need to work with us here and at least trust us." Pattie looked away at the mention of trust; she'd lost the ability to trust a long time ago. It always got her in trouble. _I trusted my powers as a witch and look where that got me, _she thought bitterly. Phoebe misread it. "Is that it? Was the demon what scared you?"

Sure, it was a complete lie, but Pattie went with it. She nodded, "he just came out of no where and then an athamae was coming at me. I was scared, so I threw it at him and he exploded."

Phoebe sympathized for her, even though Pattie was a pro at demon hunting and a lower level demon had stopped scaring her years ago, Phoebe didn't know that. She reached out to Pattie, "Elizabeth, do you know about your abilities as a witch?"

Pattie counted her blessings when the heavy door of the manor creaked open and then slammed shut as little Pattie skipped through the hallway, her curly pigtails bouncing up and down with each step. "Mommy!" she squealed happily, jumping into Prue's lap. Feeling like a third wheel, she moved over near Phoebe, pretending to be shaken still from the nightmare, which in many ways the memories still got to her. It worked; Phoebe put an arm around Pattie. It wasn't hard to accept Phoebe's comfort, she'd been raised with it, and whenever she'd lost her mind Phoebe had been there. On the other hand, just when she'd learned what it was like to be able to love her mother again, something else had interfered.

In this case, it'd been her past self.

"Mommy, it's the girl from this morning," little Pattie said, inching closer, "What is she doing here?"

"Pattie, be nice," Piper ordered.

"This is Elizabeth," Prue replied, motioning for Pattie to greet her. "Elizabeth, this is my daughter."

"Hi Pattie," the teen said, shaking the hand of the girl she once was. "I'm sorry I scared you." Little Pattie looked at her, not sure whether or not to take her seriously. "You know, I haven't gotten a real tour of the house yet," she suggested as a distraction. Pattie needed some time to think through a plan and she feared if she and her younger self were around their family too long Prue would notice the obvious similarities. Pattie was surprised no one had seen them already. "You want to show me your room and everything? I bet you've got some great toys."

Little Pattie looked at Prue, her mind instantly dropping the distrust and switching to pleasure. She loved having friends over to play with. "Can I mommy?"

"Go right ahead," Prue said, but her daughter had already grabbed a hold of their guest and was pulling her up the stairs.

Little Pattie had Pattie's arm in a death grip, excitedly leading her to her bedroom. She pushed open the door of a room that would see many changes in the coming years. Pattie nearly shielded her eyes, there was so much pink it created an eerie glow of fluorescent pink light. "Ta da!"

_I was such a little show off, _Pattie thought.

"So lemme guess, pink's your favorite color, huh?" she inquired sarcastically.

Little Pattie giggled, throwing her backpack off to the side and moving towards a pile of beanie babies that sat on the butterfly chair in the corner of her room. Pattie studied each of them, who, in her time, were currently scattered about the manor in the rooms of her cousins. She hadn't played with them in years but just couldn't bring herself to throw them out. Neither saw Prue behind them watching the spectacle, grinning from ear to ear as little Pattie cradled two small dogs, one in each hand and offered one to Pattie.

Overwhelmed by the memory of the beagle, she practically felt the tears returning as she turned the animal over again and again in her hands, reading the poem on its tag.

"Aw, hello Sniffer," Pattie laughed, petting the soft animal on its head. He felt old in her time but now, Pattie realized, he was probably one of the most coveted out there. "I bet he was a birthday present," she pretending to guess and saw her little self happily nod. It'd been such a thrill to get him, newly released only a few weeks earlier, for her birthday. He'd been sitting on her alarm clock that morning when she woke up for school.

The other beanie that rested comfortably in little Pattie's hands was Wrinkles. He'd been her first. "Oh, Wrinkles, right? He must have been a very special occasion right? Like your first day of school?"

Little Pattie gasped, "How did you know?"

"I'm one smart girl."

Prue rolled her eyes and left the doorway to go help Piper with dinner while the girls placed the two dogs back among the collection. The younger situated herself amid a heap of doll things, pulling out an outfit here and an accessory there, the older wandered over to the closet.

Quietly opening the door, she ran her hand over the neat line of clothes, most of which had been given away to homeless children or were in bags somewhere up in the attic in 2008.

Her eyes stopped when they fell over the hand-knit scarf, striped with the colors of the rainbow. During the course of Pattie's life it had become lost. Up until then, she'd worn it every day during the bitter winter in frigid temperatures. Pattie held it to her face, feeling the soft material rub against her skin. The thing that was special about this article of clothing is that Prue never knit. Prior to that Christmas, Pattie hadn't known that she had that ability, but when it was presented to her Prue had said it was the one thing she'd been able to do the last month and a half of her pregnancy, and Pattie had cherished it ever since. Holding it out to little Pattie, she queried, for the sake of conversation, "Mommy made this for you didn't she? It was a Christmas gift when you were four?"

"Okay, are you like a psychic?" little Pattie asked with a sly smirk.

The older one smiled and closed the closet door, moving over to the bed. Oh how easy it was to entrance a seven year old. "I guess you could say I'm like a guardian angel or something," she replied. Then, as she observed little Pattie take out one of her baby dolls, one of those that would eat and drink all by itself, they had been Pattie's favorites, she couldn't help be to become absorbed in the commercial-like moment. The little girl, pretending to be a mother, fed the child, burped it, and then with the most tenderness of care, set her in the plastic crib. She gave her a small kiss on the forehead before Pattie closed her eyes and let her head drop to the pillow out of disparity. The reminders were everywhere she looked.

"You know, I need to talk to you for a second, okay?"

She lifted Pattie onto the bed and settled her into her arms. It was strange, having a conversation with herself, but then again, Pattie had never considered herself normal anyway. _What have I got to lose? _Pattie decided, _I've already lost what's most important to me._

"You and I are a lot alike," she began, caressing little Pattie close to her.

"Is that why you know these things about me?" she queried curiously.

"Yes," Pattie sighed, losing her trace of thought.

"I look like you," little Pattie noted, tracing the birthmark on Pattie's left wrist and then her own. Noticing it for the first time, Pattie pulled her sleeve over her wrist. The younger one sensed the tension, the kind that only came along when a demon was after them. "Is a demon going to attack us? Is something bad going to happen?"

_Damn, she's smart, _Pattie thought, but it was too late to back out now. Taking a deep breath, she began to clarify. "There are going to be a lot of demons, Pattie. But one day, something's going to happen that you aren't ready for and you're going to think that you'll never be happy again." Little Pattie frowned sadly, but Pattie put a hand on her chin, propping her face up. "Look at me okay? I need you to know that when that time comes, and I don't want you to worry about it now because that would be silly, that it's okay to move on and be happy. Nobody will be mad at you for doing that okay?"

"Okay," little Pattie agreed, reaching up and wiping away the tears welling up in her future self's eyes. "But what's going to happen? And how do _you _know?"

"All in good time," she replied, diverting from the reality, that in less than a year Shax would be here and Prue would not. "But what I can tell you is that I come from a very special time to make sure that you are okay and that you never blame yourself for this bad thing, because it's destiny, and you can't stop destiny."

"Mommy met the Angel of Death, he wouldn't let her stop destiny either," the little girl concluded.

Pattie gulped, she hadn't realized how low Prue's time was running if Piper had already married Leo and her mother had faced the Angel of Death. "He's right. But even in the worst times, good things happen. Be good to mommy too, spend lots of time with her and always tell her how much you love her."

Fortunately, the foreshadowing to the imminent future flew over little Pattie's head, she smiled, "I already do that, silly."

"Good," she commended. "No matter what though, don't tell mommy and your aunts about this bad thing, because grown ups always worry over nothing right?" Pattie nodded, giggling. "You _will _be okay. I'm living proof of that." Little Pattie wrapped her arms around Pattie. She didn't know why, but maybe some part of the little girl knew what was coming her way, and Pattie realized she may have just affected her future in a good way.

When the child went back to her toys without question, Pattie felt her heart breaking. She admired that her young self could accept what was just told to her, knowing that somewhere down the road her life would be interrupted and changed forever.

She'd gotten through to her past self, but she couldn't reach herself in the present?

Getting to her feet, Pattie shut the door to her bedroom, sliding down to the floor. She buried her face in her knees, crying long hard sobs. It felt like weeping was the only thing she ever did.

"I need to get out of here."

With all her remaining amount of strength and will power, she resorted to a very risky situation. Taking a momentary look around the area to make sure she was alone, Pattie turned and started off in the direction of the attic.

The Book of Shadows sat in its stationary spot on the bookstand in the middle of the attic, where it had faithfully been every time Pattie needed it. She vigilantly snuck in the door, shutting and locking it. Pattie touched her hand to her chest, feeling the pounding of her heart. This was too much. She needed a sounding board to calm her down and get her home no questions asked.

_Then again, with the Halliwell family you probably couldn't get away with no questions seeing as we're all such nosy people, _she thought, smiling at her own joke.

Collecting five blue and white candles from the same supply drawer they'd always used, she found the lighter and clutched it in her trembling hands. She placed them in a circle and then lit each, one by one, her hope burning in each spark of light. Maybe she didn't have witch powers, but she could still cast spells.

Rising and returning to the book, Pattie flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. She'd never cast this spell on her own before, but Pattie had watched as her aunts did it on more than one occasion.

_Hear these words, hear my cry_

_Spirit from the other side_

_Come to me, I summon thee,_

_Cross now the great divide._

For a minute nothing happen, and Pattie's heart sank, but when suddenly there came a swirling ball of white light, following by another and then a few more, they wrapped around themselves until Patty was standing before her.

The curls of her golden hair billowed down her shoulders, she turned and faced Pattie. "But I, I don't understand," the echo of her soft voice came.

"Neither do I," Pattie admitted, closing the book. "Either way, I need you to get me home."

"Get you home? But how did you get _here_?" she inquired, resting her hands on her hips.

"You mean, you know who I am?"

Patty stepped out of the circle of lights and became corporeal, holding out her arms as her granddaughter ran into them. She enveloped Pattie into a hug. "Oh honey, of course I do. One look at you and it's very obvious."

_There they go again, telling me I look like her, _she thought moaning. "My mom and my aunts haven't noticed, I told them my name was Elizabeth and they believed me."

"Being a witch scatters their brains sometimes. I don't think they've taken the time to notice," she caressed Pattie's cheek with her hand, "but you seem to be pleased of that." Shamefully, Pattie nodded as her grandmother led her over to their antique red couch. They plopped down on it, and Patty put her hands on Pattie's shoulders, "I think you should tell me what you're doing here. This isn't your time anymore, sweetie."

"I know Grandma, believe me this wasn't my intention. Apparently I suck as a witch, I can't write a decent spell to save my life," she confessed, reclaiming the notepaper from her pockets and handing it to Patty. "I cast this to rid me of my pain but somehow I ended up here."

Patty examined the spell, her eyebrows rising. She eyed Pattie with suspicion, "what happened to make a lucky girl like you have all this pain, dear?"

"I can't tell you," she mumbled despondently.

"Pattie, you can tell me anything. Besides darling, I'm a ghost so there's no consequence for anything you say now. You need to tell me what's going on or risk changing your future to the point where someone ends up dead."

"Somebody already does!" she cried, standing and crossing the room, the tears returning.

Patty quickly followed her and tried to provide the comfort that Pattie just couldn't seem to manage. "Ssh," she soothed. "Try to keep your voice down if you don't want to be caught. You can tell me any time you like, any time you decide you're ready," Patty assured her, rocking Pattie back and forth in her arms. This was another person she wished she'd had the chance to know growing up, someone else she'd been stripped of.

_Thank you magic, _the sardonic voice played in her head.

Finally, as her hot wet tears spilled down her face, she blubbered, "She dies, your daughter."

Patty comprehended. "And your mother," she finished for her. The silence was an answer in its own right. When Pattie relaxed a bit, her eyes red and glazed over, Patty kneeled down in front of her, brushing her bangs from her eyes. "My advice? You need to tell her who you are so she can help get you home."

"What about you?"

"Sweetheart there's nothing that your Grams or I could do except guide you in the right direction. You need to confide in your mom about your real identity without giving too much information, otherwise you knows what future you have to go back to," Patty prompted, smoothing her granddaughter's hair. Pattie sighed; she knew it was the truth. Why did ghosts always have to be right?

"I don't know if I can."

"If you don't and the Elder's find out, they may intervene." Patty knew she may have been stretching the truth a bit on that one, but with the Elder's she could never be too safe. Pattie's eyes widened at the thought of that, and Patty gathered her for one last hug. "Just remember dear, I love you and I always will."

As she stepped back into the circle, becoming a pure spirit again, the last of the tears shed from Pattie's eye. "I love you too, Grandma," she replied softly, picking up one of the candles and cupping her hand around the flame.

Just as she did, Patty called, "Patricia." She looked up. "Don't count your mother out just yet."

Nodding, Pattie blew out the candle and Patty disappeared with a surge of light.

For the most part Pattie was thankful for an evening that went smoothly. They enjoyed a delicious dinner, one of the full-course ones that she remembered Piper cooking on the odd occasion. Of course, her chef of an aunt still threw together luscious food in her own time, but there was something about her passion of cooking that had been lost after her mother's death. It seemed a lot of things had been lost then.

Little Pattie chattered away the entire meal about the daily happenings of school, who got the best test grade in math, who was so-and-so's new best friend and what the new topic for her writing essay was. It kept Prue, Piper, and Phoebe distracted so the interrogation didn't fall towards her. She said a silent prayer for the fact that no one ever told her to shut up for the times she could rant about the littlest things. Now it worked in her favor.

Trying to place herself back in that moment in time, she became conscious of how easy being the naïve second grader was. All along she'd wished for the ability to grow up and be accepted as an adult in her aunts eyes, but somewhere down the line she'd overlooked the perks of being a child, the innocence, the allowance to be oblivious to everything.

About halfway through dinner she also realized that the table was lacking someone. Where was Leo? If anything, this was another benefit. In this time Leo was still a whitelighter; even if her family didn't recognize her, there was always that chance, like Patty said, that the Elders would inform Leo of what was going on and he would, too, know.

The longer he stayed away the better.

The time would have to come sooner or later to tell Prue, but Pattie wasn't ready yet. Still, she knew her grandmother was right; it had to come sooner or later.

After they'd finished Pattie helped Piper to clean up the dishes, carrying them back and forth from the table to the sink. It was the least she could do after interrupting their lives with her own drama, Pattie felt. "Really, honey, you don't have to help," Piper repeated for the third time, but Pattie insisted.

"Hey I say if the kid wants to have manners, let her," Phoebe argued.

"Can I have some water, please, Elizabeth?" Little Pattie asked sweetly as she cuddled with Prue, sitting on her lap. Pattie tried not to watch them, she didn't want to see the bond that she's once had herself, it might make her blurt out the truth with the worst timing.

Unfortunately the truth always has a way of coming out on its own.

Reaching for a mug and filling it from the sink, Pattie happily obliged to the request. As she reached across from her spot to hand the mug to Pattie, Prue sucked it a breath of air and she drew back.

Pattie realized, all too late, that the sleeve of her sweatshirt had slipped up her arm. Prue had caught a glimpse at the circular patch of darkened skin on her wrist. Curiosity loomed within her. She took the arm of the little girl sitting in her lap and flipped it over, staring at the same picture on her own wrist, a birthmark that Pattie had always had.

That was when it hit her. She thought back to the first moments of conversation between her and this girl, how she called herself Elizabeth. Elizabeth, which was Patricia's middle name. The pieces began to flow together and Prue started to assimilate the situation. She'd thought herself lucky that Pattie took to Elizabeth so quickly, how she'd seemingly understood her daughter's circumstances as a witch, and even agreed with her desire to be called Pattie, not Patricia.

_"I love the name, but I guess I, like her, just find Pattie a whole lot more fitting," Elizabeth had said._

Of course she did, she grew up being called Pattie as a nickname and hating her full name. The rest of the facts fit themselves together nicely as well. Pattie had been born in the North Beach apartment Prue and Piper had shared when Prue's water had unexpectedly broken, but Elizabeth had also said she wouldn't give more to where she resided at that point in time. Prue had wondered why, now it was clear.

She pictured the moment where she caught Elizabeth staring longingly at a picture of her and Pattie from one of Pattie's dance recitals, how her face had seemed almost brightened. She'd clung so tightly to Prue following a nightmare, as if she were perfectly comfortable with her. It all made sense.

Even more, she'd confessed that her father was dead, which Andy was, and her mother needn't worry of where she was.

Surely her mother didn't worry, because finally Prue knew, this child was hers.

"Pattie," Prue's voice trailed off, "why don't you go upstairs and play?"

Pattie sighed, "You're just trying to get rid of me." Bingo, she was right, but Prue didn't have the patience to argue.

"Well, go call Emily and ask her if her mother wouldn't mind picking you up a little early before the costume party then?"

"You mean I can go?" Pattie squealed, instantly forgetting any anger. Prue nodded, and Pattie scampered up the stairs and to her bedroom, happily giggling the entire way.

Piper and Phoebe both sat forward as Prue rose slowly from her seat and approached Pattie. She gently placed her hands on Pattie's face, staring into the eyes of the little girl she'd created and raised. The same green eyes which stared back at her every night when she tucked Pattie in. "How could I not see it?" she asked herself aloud, taking in each facial feature, the solid chestnut-colored hair, and the way Pattie tucked her hair behind her ear again, trying to back away. Every bit of her was clone to Prue.

"What's…what's going on?" she stuttered nervously, thought she was already positive that she her worse nightmare was coming true before her eyes. Prue had figured it out.

Prue dropped her hands and studied Pattie for another minute before finally having the courage to say it. "You can drop the act now. I know it's you, Pattie."

But that was the wrong move. Pattie dropped the mug she was holding, letting it shatter to pieces as the drink stained the floor and she bolted. Her mother and aunts were calling after her but Pattie just bit her lip and pressed forward, pounding her feet into the soil beneath her and heading for the first place she could think of.

She didn't know where she would go exactly but she knew where she couldn't.

Home.

**So I didn't confuse you too much, right? What do you think Pattie will do now? And what about Prue? Thanks to everyone who's been supporting me and my writing, it definitely influences how quickly the next chapter comes. I want your opinion, have me up to 25 reviews for the story before I post the next chapter!**


	6. 5: Unspoken Love and Brutal Truths

**Note: This chapter is in first person, Pattie's point of view. Enjoy!**

I could sit here for hours, rocking back and forth. The chains creek quietly as I kick at the dirt beneath my feet, my head hung low. I miss the way things used to be in this place, the way everything used to seem so simple, so easy. Not long after my mom's passing they ripped up the entire playground, replacing the old stuff with new colorful plastic slides and swing sets. It was supposed to give the area a homely look but personally, looking around at the rust on metal, I feel more comfortable like this. Every spot on this city, this Earth, it used to seem so much simpler. I wonder if that changed because I grew up, or if things really did worsen on their own.

It seems like I've lived two completely lives. Like before my mom died and after are two completely different universes. My aunts changed a lot; I think they both used to be a lot more easygoing, especially about Wicca, but especially with my Aunt Paige. Sometimes I think they're unfair to her because she's not Mom, because she died and Aunt Paige was brought into their life. They try to be sisterly towards her, but it's hard on both of them.

I'd give anything just to have it all back.

Darkness makes a pool of blackness around me. Street lights are on outside of the area, absorbing what little amount of black they can, but I sit amid a hole of emptiness, trying to process how things could end up like this.

My head aches from crying but it's the only thing I can think to do anymore, the only thing I can comprehend. I don't know how I'm going to get home now, and if I can't get home, where I will go. All I know is I can't face them, especially not her. It might just do some irreparable damage.

When the clacking of boots clicks on the sidewalk my heart nearly stops. I have a brief breathe of relief because I know there not my mother's, she was more known for high heels not boots, but they belong to another member of my family. I come close to falling off the swing, but I manage to jump to the safe ground and make a run for it. The only thing stopping me is the 3 ½ foot fence separating me from the outside world. As I go to climb over it, I feel a pair of hands grab me by the shoulders. "Oh, I don't think so!"

Aunt Phoebe pulls me back down with a half-angry half-sympathetic look filling her brown eyes. There's no use trying to escape her, she knows Tae Kwon Do. So I walk away from her and reluctantly resume my hobby of swinging absently back and forth. She sits on the swing opposite me, waiting.

"You followed me." I don't look at her.

"I didn't need to," she replies dryly. When I finally look up, confused, she replies. "You always want to come here whenever you're upset, something about this place calms you, I could never figure out exactly what it was." Pondering that, I try to take myself back to this place at a younger age. She's right, and I can't believe I forgot about that. No wonder I am always bringing my cousins here, it reminds me of _my _childhood, that's why I came here now.

I rack my brain for an answer, "This is where mom brought me after Grams died, it was right after they built this. It was the only place I really had her all to myself when I was really young."

Aunt Phoebe switches topics on me, "Why did you come back here?"

I shrug, "It was the first place I could think to run."

"Not this park," she says, "this _time_."

Holding my hands up in defense I mutter, "Your guess is as good as mine." Aunt Phoebe glares at me and I give her a better answer. "Magic screwed me over."

"How so? Because with magic, spells always—" she asks.

"I know, I know," I interrupt, "spells always have their own way of working out. Just because I grow up doesn't mean I forget." She grabs my hands in hers, and I know how badly she'd like me to be as open as the seven-year-old she left back at the manor, but there's so much I can't share with her. "Aunt Phoebe, if I tell you why I cast that spell I might just mess up my entire future, and I don't know if I'm willing to risk that."

Minutes pass before she can gather up a reasonable answer, so my aunt switches to guilt. "You broke your mother's heart, you know, running like that. She doesn't know what she did wrong, but she knows there's some reason you didn't want to be near her."

My hands run over the cold metal chain. "She didn't do anything wrong."

Aunt Phoebe isn't buying it. "Well, then why did you just leave like that?"

"It's not that simple."

I can feel her eyes on me and it's much harder to resist spilling everything to my aunt. If I look her in the eyes, I'm done for. There have been millions of these talks over the years, and even when I say I'm never speaking to her again or I'm not in the mood to talk somehow the minute her compassionate eyes reach me there are no secrets. She's persuasive that way. Suddenly she switches topics on me again and although I'm grateful, I wonder if she's trying to use some sort of reverse psychology on me; I wouldn't put it past my Aunt Phoebe. "You really are like her; I can't believe none of us saw that," she rambles on.

I kick my feet, creating a cloud of dirt. I wish I could disappear.

Like magic.

"I was kind of surprised you didn't. I left mom clues when I told her my name and when I was from but she didn't get them until she saw the birthmark," I explain. "Little Pattie saw it too."

Aunt Phoebe raises an eyebrow at me, "So you…or she rather, she knows who you are?"

I didn't think of this. I'll admit I was a clever child, always keeping it to myself at first when I knew something I thought no one else did because it made me feel smart. "She knows I'm not from this time, and that I know a lot about her, but you know me. How much I really knew of anything you could never be sure. I played dumb a lot."

"That's very true," she agrees.

I nod, standing and moving over to the bench where parents watch kids slide down the slide and play in the castle. Aunt Phoebe follows me, almost reading my mind. She sits down and folds me into her arms, letting me rest my head on her shoulder.

"You've been through a lot haven't you?" she asks calmly.

"More than you know," is all I can manage.

"All we want to do is help you," she reminds me, holding me tighter.

"You are without realizing it," I assure her pressing my face into her shoulder. I take a risk with this and continue. "Aunt Phoebe, you've been one of the only constants in my life and whenever I needed you, you were always there. I learned a great deal from watching you."

She releases me long enough to give me a wide smile, taking pride in this. For awhile I think no one ever really let her know what an asset she was to have, especially after the straggling intensity between her and Mom right after she moving back from New York. The credit is long overdue, and I have to remind myself to tell my aunts how much I love them when I get back home. _If _I get back home. "What did I teach you?"

"A lot about spells," I answer, thinking of the crumpled paper in my pocket and add, "Even if I mess them up once and awhile."

"So you didn't want to come back here?"

"It wasn't my first option, no," I laugh. "I was just as surprised as you were not to be in 2008 anymore."

As we sit I watch the stars, remembering when I used to lay outside in the summer with my mom aunts and watch them. Vaguely, I can remember something Aunt Piper said about telling the stars your secrets and they would never say a word. Each star would take one of your secrets and because there were millions of stars, you always have at least one to listen. I tell Aunt Phoebe my recollection of this and she laughs lightly, ruffling my hair.

"You _would _remember that," she snickers. "Piper comes up with the strangest, yet most comforting things."

"She still does."

Aunt Phoebe watches me for a moment; I wonder what's on her mind. "You still have a lot to explain. A lot of secrets you need to be telling us. We're better than stars, we can talk back."

"Do you want me to change my future?" I scoff back before thinking. She's taken aback.

"If we're going to get you home we need to know what we're facing," she guesses, I can sense anger in her, not because I won't talk but because I'm giving her an attitude.

"Look, I know what I'm dealing with, you don't need to. You just need to get me home!"

"If you're upset because you messed up a spell, Pattie, you need to get over that," she tells me and I get off the table, feeling something rising within me. I try to suppress it. "Get over whatever teenage problem you have with your mother and learn to talk to her!"

"I can't, I don't know how!" I admit. Frustrated and confused, she sighs heavily.

"Well, why not?" I can't contain this anymore. So I say what I can't take back.

"Because in my future there isn't a mom for me to talk to!" I scream.

She stops immediately, going dead silent. Her hearts breaking too by this, it was what I wanted to avoid. Everything I want to avoid keeps going in reverse direction and coming at me with an impact. Now it's too late. She knows, despite any denial that might be here, Aunt Phoebe knows the brutal truth, but she doesn't reply to me. I see remnants of the purely destroyed woman that was there when Mom died forming now. I hope I haven't made a mistake.

"I want to explain to you more of this, Aunt Phoebe, but right now I need to go somewhere to clear my thoughts and decide if there's any truth I can save to keep _our _future from falling apart," I decide, and she nods, taking my hand. I tell her where I want to go and she agrees. We head off in that direction.

She doesn't say anything the entire walk, and when I get there I tell her I'll get my own means of getting home. We come to the conclusion that no one can know what I told her and after a moment of her holding me, cherishing the one piece of her sister that she'd have left, she starts walking back to the Manor, cautiously looking over her shoulder to make sure I'm still here and unharmed with ever few steps.

I really hope she holds true to her promise and doesn't tell Mom or Aunt Piper. One unstable person is enough. Keeping true to her word is in my aunt's normal code, but grief can do a lot of unexpected things.

As my feet sink into the damp soil of the graveyard I tightly wrap my arms around my body, shivering. I don't know why; it's not cold and I'm not scared…or at least not a lot anyway. I never much feared graveyards, but with all the spirits floating around cemeteries, I'm a little edgy. I owe Aunt Phoebe for this, for not asking me too much, for listening, for doing all things now she that she's done as I've grown up. The number of things I'm going to have to explain to my family later keeps piling up one by one, but maybe I can remedy some of that now.

Some of the headstones are faded and eroding away, victims of time. There are too many of those, sometimes I believe time really is worse than demons, death and all of the other terrible things we face in life.

The muddy ground is trying to capture me but I keep forcing forward, I know the path by heart now, after all these years. If I can't face my mom then there's only one other person to go to, even if he can't talk back.

My father.

Unfortunately, just as I reach the plot where his gravestone is perched, I realize I'm not alone.

My mother.

It almost makes me laugh to realize this is the first time I've had my parents together since I was five, figuratively speaking anyway. But I can't even crack a smile. She's in a state I've never seen and never in a million years even believed to exist. I watch her, hunched over and crying as she runs her hand down the marble stone and through the spaces of the message: _Andrew Truddeau 1969-1999. Beloved son, brother, __**father**_I remember when the Truddeau's found out about me, the long lost daughter. Oh how Dad had been thrilled, his mother said. Dad's mother, Elizabeth, who was genuinely touched to hear that my middle name had been for her.

When I was little and Andy walked back into our lives right as I became associated with magic, I couldn't understand why Mom couldn't tell him, why she _wouldn't _tell him who I really was. I was heartbroken. She knew that in some way he'd fall so in love me, his family, which he'd want to risk everything to protect including his own life. She didn't want to take that from him, to steal his freedom and obliviousness to the magical world. Well, he found out about magic, and then when Aunt Phoebe had a premonition of his death, he found out about me. Mom told him as a last resort to keep him away so I'd have a father. But he knew it was his destiny, and he saved us.

I don't always grieve for the dad I never got to know and then when that chance was given, the one I lost. The Truddeau family couldn't cope and moved out of state not long after and I don't know much else about him. But I feel a tear run down my face as I watch her stroke the limestone grave.

"Oh, Andy, where did I go wrong to make my own daughter hate me?" she cries, unable to find any traction and not noticing me. "She's beautiful, that's for sure, our little girl, and powerful to get all the way back here. But why would she not want to be near me?"

My throat feels dry and I don't know what to say, but I still do, "I don't hate you."

She looks up, startled, but relieved all the same. "Looks like great minds think alike, huh?"

I want to smile, for everything to be okay, but every time I convince myself to act one way my emotions shift and I'm rendered speechless. "I could never hate you," I repeat, "_ever._"

For a minute she considers what I said and then reaches her hands out to me. I shrink back and immediately regret it, but I'm too grief-stricken to do much else. Defeated, she replies sarcastically, "Just like Sam didn't love your grandmother and then didn't try to hide it."

Another pang of guilt rushes through me. Of all people she mentioned Sam, Aunt Paige's father. I can't continue that discussion any further as a risk of unearthing a truth that needs to stay buried. "He had his reasons," I say cryptically. Oh, if she only knew. I'm hurting her, it's clear from the glazed over stare in her ice blue eyes that she feels guilty for what she thinks she's going to do to me. "Mama," I whimper softly, I haven't called her that since I was a toddler. "You could never do anything to me that would make me hate you. You're the best mom in the entire world, everything you ever taught me I will always keep with me. I am so lucky that I have you."

I mean every word of it.

"You won't even let me touch you," she mutters helplessly.

"I'd feel it then." I begin to cry.

"Feel what?"

"The love, the compassion, every little ounce of affection you have for me and it might just hurt too much," my words come slowly and separated through sobs. What I don't say is something I never reflected on before, how having her after all of this might tear me apart worse than not having her would.

She moves toward me, catching on to every word, "Something has happened, hasn't it?"

A release of blame is clear, and I'm happy she's starting to realize that it's me, not her, that's at fault here but if my mother figures out more the cost might be far greater that I can imagine. "I…I can't."

"Please, Pattie, don't be afraid of me, talk to me," she begs, summoning me to her but I'm rooted to my spot, paralyzed by fear. The pain is so inundating that I can't move. "Sweetie, please."

"I love you too much to do that to you," I protest. She's just being the caring, sweet person that she is prying into my life; it's her job after all. That's such a lie though; I don't want to tell her not because it's going to hurt _her _but because it's going to just add to _my _heartache.

I don't see it coming when she grips me by the shoulders and stares me straight in the eyes, pressure bearing down on me. "Patricia, I love you and no matter what you tell me I'm not going to be upset."

"You don't know that—," I try to interrupt. She silences me.

"It means a great deal to me that you care about my feelings but I'm your mother, Pattie. There isn't a thing in this world you can't tell me and I can help you. That's what I'm here for." Even as I try to look away she tenderly touches my face, turning it back to her. "_I'm your mother._ I'm supposed to worry about you. Not the other way around."

As a child I told my mom everything under the sun. She got a personal recap of every school day, every detail and I never hid a thing from her. Of course, I hadn't had time to hit the teenage stage before she was gone but I think that deprived me of the one thing all other teenagers have, the ability to lie to their own parents. With my aunts that's a different story, but my mom?

I don't know if I can bring myself to tell her something else besides the truth.

So instead, I reach the breaking point.

Her grasp on me tenses when I begin to shake. It becomes sheer panic, and then I start to scream. I'm calling her name even though she's right there, crying buckets, and trying to fight her away. There's no possibility of controlling myself, because as I try to hang on I slip away more. I wanted this so much 24 hours ago, and then I got it and now I'm pushing her away. Realization never struck about how hard it would really be to face someone I lost and then know I'm going to have to lose her again.

I can't bring myself to let her comfort me and I can't live without her.

There really is no winning with me.

No matter what she keeps her grip firm. I feel her pulling me closer, embracing me, smoothing my hair, shushing me. And as I scream and tell her to let me go, my mom hugs me closer. I feel like I really am shattering.

_"Why did you have to go, please don't die!"_

I don't even realize I've actually said it out loud until I calm enough to see her staring at me wide-eyed.

"Please don't die?"

_**Okay, first off, sorry it took so long for the next chapter! This one's a little shorter but I've been tied up with schoolwork and stuff. I hope you all like it, keep reviewing. A special shout out goes to PirateQueen716, she knows why! I decided to write this one in first person because I really wanted to get Pattie's vision on it all. What do you think, you like it more this way? I'm planning on going back to third person but your opinions matter so speak up! Support means more chapters! I can't promise one soon but it should be within a week, just get on my back about it if I start taking too long!**_


	7. 6: Family Gets You Through It

From the beginning Pattie knew it would reach this point.

She and Prue had spoken not a word the entire ride home. Instead, Pattie pulled her feet up to her chest on the seat of the car, wrapped her arms around her body and slipped out into a state of half-consciousness. She didn't realize that tears were still dripping down the sides of her face, or that she was whimpering audibly. Prue counted the times she heard a small whine, she'd hit about fifteen now, and with each instance she wanted to reach over and try to console her, but she knew from experience there was no consolation.

At first Pattie had denied what Prue had heard, but there was a glazed over gaze of terror in her eyes as she came up with alternate phrases to what she'd actually said. It shocked her, but after one big truth, Pattie had shut down, she'd provide no further explanation.

Dying young, that was what this family was good at.

Not sure whether or not she was exactly scared, Prue drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. If anything, her fears rested more on her daughter's future than her own. It wasn't the thought of dying, it was the thought of leaving such a great life and beautiful daughter behind before any of them were ready.

There wasn't much else to be done now except wait for Pattie to come to terms with her future. Piper still had to know, but from what Pattie told her, Phoebe had already unexpectedly come to know of the truth.

Prue, seeing no other options seeing as they were caught in traffic on the other side of town, gave it a shot as breaking through Pattie's thick exterior. "I don't know if you remember, but after your father died you didn't talk for two whole months." Pattie didn't stir from her spot. "All three of us were so scared we were never going to hear your precious voice again. Grams told us not to worry, that you were just trying to manage the situation as best you could and when you could trust someone besides yourself again that you'd let yourself have contact with the world," she continued, looking over, seeing no effect. Prue kept pushing. "Then one day, out of no where, you just came downstairs, jumped into my arms and told me how much you loved me." Pattie remembered this. They'd just vanquished the warlocks from the strange painting and she'd been hiding upstairs watching, but when the day had been saved, she'd drawn Prue a colorful crayon picture and presented it to her happily. "I could never quite calculate what brought you back from where you'd hidden yourself, but whatever it was I'm glad you came back to us."

For a minute nothing happened, but when traffic finally eased and Prue put her eyes back on the road she felt a hand on hers. Turning back, she saw Pattie watching her, one hand outstretched and covering the one Prue didn't have on the wheel. Still there were no words, but there had been progress.

Prue smiled, "You always come back to us don't you? Even if it's from 2008, you come back."

_But what if why I __**really **__came back is to save something, _Pattie thought, _that can't be saved?_

When they returned home, Leo met Prue outside at the car. She swung open the car door and slammed it shut, sighing with relief when her brother-in-law appeared. "Piper knows," he mumbled solemnly. When Prue went to respond, Leo cut her off. "Don't be mad at Phoebe, she knew when she got home that if you met Pattie at the graveyard there would be no hiding the truth from you. I'm glad we know now."

Prue tucked a chunk of hair behind her ear. "Where's my daughter from this time? My little girl."

"Emily's mother came and picked her up about 10 minutes after you left."

She exhaled again, calmed. At least one part of her daughter wouldn't be around to witness the breakdown she was sure would come eventually. Glancing back to the passenger seat, she replied softly, "She shut down, Leo. I can't get through to her. I don't think she'll even move to go inside."

Leo promised Prue he'd get his niece inside and then dismissed her to go see her sisters, they needed it. When she finally agreed, so worrisome to leave Pattie, he carefully approached the passenger side, opened the door, and knelt down by Pattie. She said nothing, and did not move besides possibly clutching her knees tighter. "Pattie," he whispered gently, "I know you don't want to see your family right now. I can get you inside and you can be alone, if you want," he offered, hoping something would happen. When there was again no response, Leo put in a last effort. She was being orbed inside no matter what, but if Pattie would cooperate it'd be better for everyone. "You trust me, don't you?"

Finally there was success. She moved long enough to collapse into his willing arms and Leo grabbed her, blue and white sparkling lights sweeping them both away.

They reappeared in the bright pink bedroom. Even in the dark it was still notable, the vibrant color.

Soft, fluffy pillows were waiting for Pattie to drop her head onto. There wasn't a single tear, no sound, but she wrapped her arms around one of a dozen stuffed animals, burying her face into it. Pattie was tired of crying, it wasn't getting her anywhere anyway, especially not home. "You're brave for coming back here," Leo told her, "no matter what the circumstances were." He took a minute, sitting and stroking her hair, wondering what other secrets were cooped up inside her head. Then, he stood and walked towards the doorway. "We'll give you some time, okay?"

Just like that he was gone too. Pattie rolled over and stared at the ceiling and the glow in the dark stars paste-ed to it. She traced them with her eyes, remembering what she'd told Phoebe earlier this evening. One by one she made a confession, entrusting her deepest secrets in the plastic stars beaming back down at her.

_Aunt Phoebe doesn't know that she won't love Cole for forever._

_Aunt Piper and Uncle Leo don't know that they have three beautiful children at home._

_How will I tell them about Aunt Paige?_

Can _I tell them about Aunt Paige?_

_I'm not sure I want to go home._

She rethought that last statement. Either way, staying here or not Pattie realized soon there wouldn't be a mother to obsess over. She'd be gone in this time too. As far as she knew, telling Prue about her death wouldn't directly affect her future if she didn't reveal more information.

It was strange for Pattie to be back in the bedroom she'd loved as a child, teeming with stuffed animals, a lava lamp, old CD's, innocent things. Pattie could barely believe she still had the same room in her own time with all the change it was witnessed in recent years.

Considering all her options, Pattie speculated about the possibility of giving every bit of information away. Would that mean that things unfolded differently in the end? Would Prue still die? If she halted her mother's demise once it didn't ensure that death would be back, because destiny always won. How much was she willing to screw up her own future? How much had she screwed it up already by coming here?

_Maybe there's an explanation, _Pattie reasoned. But she couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that the elders or magic would have sent her back to stop a death, especially when it changed the course of magic entirely. It didn't seem logical.

Nothing seemed logical.

Pattie had soon exhausted herself from thinking and before she realized it, she was fast asleep. In fact, she'd drifted off so quickly she didn't recognize it when Prue quietly peered into the bedroom and then draped a spare blanket over her. The darkness concealed the red eyes and tear-stained cheeks Prue had as she sat with Pattie for seconds that became minutes that became hours. All the while she studied the features, the shape of her face and thin lips, the way she'd smiled earlier and how she, like Prue, tucked her hair behind her ear during nervous moments.

Meanwhile, Pattie's mind was reliving the harshest moment of her existence.

_A simple, sunny day at the Halliwell manor was interrupted as evil was attempting to work its magic, with Prue, Piper, Pattie and an innocent in tow. Pattie, nearly eight, was in her mother's grasp, with her arms wrapped around her neck. She never remembered being so scared in her life._

_Pattie glanced towards the clock, nearly 6:30, they'd been fighting for their lives all day._

_Shax was after this man, and he was after her._

_Pattie wasn't particularly pleased with their current innocent. He was a man in his early fifties named Dr. Griffiths, a prominent ER physician who was very skilled in medicine but had an even better ability to not believe people, Pattie saw. He didn't understand what was going on but he would not do what he was told, which Pattie did not like seeing as they were trying to help him._

_When he questioned, again, the situation, Prue turned to him and explained as Piper placed her hands on her hips, "Look, I know that this all sounds incredible__, but it doesn't make it any less true. Alright, you're a healer, you do good, now either you have saved too many lives or you're about to save a life that they don't want you to save."_

_He didn't seem to believe her that much, so Pattie added, "They'll want you to stop."_

_Raising an eyebrow, he curiously asked, "They?"_

_"Demons," Pattie told him, resting her head on Prue's shoulder._

_"Uh, more specifically, Shax. He was The Source's assassin," Prue clarified._

_Dr. Griffiths laughed nervously, not able to comprehend a word. He backed up a step or two. "Hold it, I get it. This is a practical joke, right? Do you have a hidden camera here? My second wife put you up to this? Ah, it's just like her," he accused, losing himself in his own ramble._

_If made Pattie angrier. "It's true!" she insisted, not having time for this. He was being incorrigible and Pattie, knowing that Shax also had threatened to come after her alone next, wasn't in the mood to explain the existence of magic, even though Prue had assured her she would be safe from the demon. Prue had bet her life on it._

_Her life._

_"Make him listen, mommy," she begged._

_Prue tried to do just that, "Oh, oh, okay, Dr. Griffiths, listen to me, this is anything but..." she stopped mid-sentence. He looked at her, almost with a satisfactory smile that she couldn't explain herself._

_Both Piper and Pattie looked at her fretfully, their time was running out. "What?" Piper asked._

_Pattie gripped Prue tighter, "Are you okay?"_

_Slowly, Prue set Pattie down on the ground and shivered. "I don't know, I just felt a chill." She looked at Pattie, who was worried, "I'm okay," she tried to reassure her even though Pattie was smart enough not to buy it. She took a precious moment to give her daughter a hug and again try to soothe her. "I love you, baby," the words echoed through Pattie's ears._

_"I love you too, mommy," Pattie replied, not knowing they were the last five words she'd ever say to Prue._

_Sensing danger, Prue glanced towards the stairway. "Phoebe?" she called, receiving only silence as her answer. Prue tensed, "Phoebe, are you there?" she yelled again, louder this time in case Phoebe didn't hear her. Still, there was no reply. This was strange._

_A terrible tornado ripped through the front doors of the manor and twisted through the front hall. Pattie screamed, "Aunt Phoebe!" but to no avail, she backed up against the wall, pressing her arms over her face._

_As the twister threw itself in the direction of Piper and Prue, both turned towards it and the elder sister managed one more scream, "Phoebe, where are you?!" before both were thrown to the ground, the wind knocked out of them. Dr. Griffiths backed up in awe, and Pattie sank down to the floor, cowering back further._

_There was a clap of thunder, and the tornado with its mix of lighting stopped swirling to materialize into Shax, who was bigger than Pattie realized with faded blue skin, clothes, and hair. Leaves whisked around him, more lighting, and evil glimmered through his eyes as the wind whipped his long hair in front of his face._

_Prue and Piper raised their heads and began to push themselves up slowly, their muscles aching._

_He was stronger than any they'd fought before._

_"Dear God," Dr. Griffiths said, paralyzed by fear, and Pattie, seeing no other way out, did the only thing she knew how to do. Bracing herself, she moved towards the demon and brought her hand to her mouth, delivering a crisp line of ice towards Shax. It was cyrokinises, the power of her mother's past life. She'd been afraid it wouldn't faze him, even with all the power she harnessed, but it did merely wound him, distracting Shax from Dr. Griffiths. _

_He turned towards her and she moved towards the doctor, attempting to shield him, giving Prue and Piper more time to regain their strength. Shax seemed pleased, as if she was presenting herself to him on a platter._

_But as he was ready to release the energy ball that would kill her in seconds due to her small size, Prue used every ounce of energy in her to get to her feet, leaving Piper behind and running to her daughter. "No!" she screamed, pushing Pattie out of his reach. She fell to the floor behind him and crawled to a small space behind a plant where she was no longer visible. Unfortunately, the events still were observable to her. Pattie watched as Shax released the energy ball that sent Prue flying backwards and right through a solid wall separating the hall and the living room. Her jaw dropped, but she couldn't scream for she feared he'd remember her presence._

_The wood crashed and snapped as Prue soared through it and landed on her back in the living room amid a pile of debris, blood leaking from her body at a fast rate as she was rendered unconsciously immediately._

_Piper, seeing this, and realizing that Dr. Griffiths was still exposed, pulled herself up and ran towards him at her own expense. He still watched, purely stunned, and before Shax could nail the innocent, he wielded an energy ball Piper's way, hurling her backwards through the remaining part of the wall and demolishing it completely._

_She landed with a thud and one last moan, more blood trickling down her face, unconscious._

_There was only one left in sight now, but Pattie knew she didn't have the power to save him without being killed herself. The decision was brutal, but she'd already watched her family sacrifice themselves for one man and they needed her now, she wouldn't put herself in the line of fire._

_Shax briefly watched Piper land before turning back to Dr. Griffiths and lowering his arm. Leaves and debris were fluttering through the air. Dr. Griffiths asked, fear detectable in his voice, "What are you?"_

_As the long hair left his face, Shax roared, his head back, "The end."_

_He bellowed, clenching his teeth and hurling one last energy ball at the doctor. Pattie closed her eyes as it came in contact and sent him over the table and through a stained glass window which faced the backyard. It shattered upon impact and he remained there, hanging half outside the house in between life and death as blood dripped from his ear and other parts of his body._

_Glancing around at his three wounded casualties, Shax felt satisfied. Pattie was forgotten, but she still made no sound that might alert Shax that she was within arm's distance of him. She guessed he assumed she had gotten away, and would never find out why he didn't come after her that day._

_All was quiet._

_Then the horrific winds wrapped themselves around his body from his feet to his head until he was once again a treacherous tornado. Another clap of thunder, striking lighting and he headed out the door he came in through, leaving the manor a wreck in more ways than one._

_The glass on the manor doors smashed as it slammed shut._

_When Pattie was sure he was gone and not coming back for her demise, she instantly stood and ran over to where she'd seen her mother and aunt thrown. "Mommy!" she cried helplessly, "Aunt Piper!"_

_Pattie dropped to her knees, hovering over both of them, the sticky blood covering her hands as she did what she'd been taught earlier this week in school for safety week and checked for pulses on both of them. _If they don't have one, _she remembered, _then they're not alive. _Thankfully, both pulses were there but Pattie was still scared by how faint both were. They both were breathing, as she listened, but it was labored._

_How had this happened?_

_"Aunt Phoebe!! Uncle Leo!!" she screamed, forgetting that the underworld silenced her calls to them._

_There was nothing that Pattie could think to do, no healing spells, no reversals, nothing. "Mommy," she sobbed, taking both Prue and Piper's hands, knowing it couldn't end like this, even though it would for one. So she sat, and then laid her head on Prue's chest, waiting for help to come to her as she watched her mother and aunt die._

_One of them for good._

As Pattie's head ran over this nightmare, Prue still sat with her.

"How is it possible that I don't get to watch you grow up?" she whispered quietly, fingering a lock of Pattie's hair. "I need more than seven years. I want to watch you leave for your first date, graduate high school, walk down the aisle at your wedding." Pattie tossed and turned for a minute before settling down again and Prue was afraid she'd woken her daughter up. Thankfully, she hadn't. Neither of them would have known what to say.

Her mind was still warped about the fact that she'd looked right past the obvious signs Pattie had given her. Had she really been so wrapped up in everything else that she missed what was right in front of her?

This was more important than the now-vanquished demon, the shopping list that wasn't done, bills that needed to be paid, and another argument she and Phoebe had been in for a reason Prue could barely remember.

So much more important.

"Your aunts must have been so good to you, weren't they?" she asked. "I mean, just look at what a beautiful young woman you're growing up to be. I'm forever grateful to my sisters."

"Are you?" another voice whispered and Prue looked up to see both Piper and Phoebe watching her. They snuck in the room as well, closing the door gently as Prue took Pattie's hand and caressed it in her own. Phoebe spoke again quietly, "She must have been worn out." Prue nodded.

Piper was still shell-shocked from the information she'd been given, and it was showing. "We have to figure out how this happened so that we can stop it," she decided. "Why would Pattie have come back otherwise?"

"It wasn't something she meant to do," Phoebe clarified, receiving blank stares from both Prue and Piper. "Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? She hid her identity from us, ran away, and then closed up when she gave us a piece of lethal information. Pattie told me it was a spell gone wrong. Maybe she was just trying to deal with the pain of your—," she cut herself off, not able to choke out the words, "—of losing you in her own way, but magic interfered."

Fiddling with her bracelet and unable to unglue her eyes from her niece, Piper laughed. "Magic always interferes." Phoebe rubbed her arm sympathetically, knowing how much Piper always wished for a normal life. "Why would Pattie not want to come back here and save her own mother?"

Prue knew.

"Why else?" she inquired rhetorically. "Because she knows that she can't."

Piper dropped her head, crushed, "Don't say that."

But Prue insisted, "It's true. I met the Angel of Death, I know that when it's someone's time to die there's no stopping it. Pattie must know that too, that's why it hurts her too much to see me again. She knows can't stop what's going to happen."

They were reading Pattie like a book, discovering the feelings that had been hiding in Pattie since she arrived. But not one of the three women in that room knew what would come next.

Phoebe felt tears sting her eyes, "How are we supposed to go on knowing this?"

"I don't know," Prue confessed, bringing her sister into a hug, "But we'll find some way, we'll savor our time if it's all we can do. There must have been some reason this happened the way it did."

"To torture us," Piper replied, raising her voice, "They want to see us suffer!"

"Piper—," Phoebe tried to reply but Piper kept going.

"After all of the work we put into being witches we're going to pay for it with your life Prue! You don't even seem to be worried about it. You're leaving Pattie behind, your destiny, and worse, us! And you don't care, do you?" Piper began to sob heavily in the darkness, as the three sisters embraced and sought comfort in each other. She knew what she'd said was a bit exaggerative, of course her sister cared, but right now anger was easier.

When they finally could manage to calm themselves, Phoebe was the first to pull away. "You know we'll take care of her right?" she asked, reaching over and laying a hand on Pattie's face, it was so hard to believe how much older she was. "We'll fight like hell to protect her, and to avenge your—," she couldn't say it.

"I know that, Phoebe."

"Of course we will," Piper put in, "Pattie will never forget you or the love you gave her."

"And neither will we," Phoebe reminded Prue, who had now laid her head down next to her daughters.

Prue listened to the sound of her breathing, steadily and strongly, and took comfort in it. She simply wanted Pattie to know just that, that she was loved. "The fact that she was able to come back here, that she's got a good head on her shoulders says that to me, guys. I would never doubt that you could raise her well."

Pattie shifted a bit again, moaning and then turned to lie flat on her back. Prue smiled through a few falling tears, watching her child sleep was one of the most innocent things she'd ever encountered.

"Guys," Prue said quietly, "I need some time to think, okay?" She rose from the bed and went for the doorway. "Please keep an eye on her," she begged, being protective and not wanting Pattie alone. "Just in case."

A part of Piper and Phoebe told them to go after her, to offer comfort and make sure this wasn't the moment in time where they'd lose their sister forever, but a voice of reason reminded them that their niece was just as important. Piper and Phoebe leaned on one another, taking notice in the way, when Pattie rolled over again, her arms wrapped around one of the stuffed animals she'd coddled so often as a child. Both giggled softly.

"Can you believe that _we _raised her by ourselves, without Prue?" Piper queried.

"Barely," Phoebe wrapped her arms around Piper, "I doubt it was easy."

"Children never are," Piper replied and then gestured to Pattie, "but there she is."

"So we must have done something right and not been total failures," Phoebe guessed.

At that moment, Pattie became restless. She'd been rattled by another nightmare and shot up into a sitting position, clearly distressed by whatever she'd been dreaming. Instantly alerted, Piper and Phoebe were at her side. "Aunt Piper, Aunt Phoebe," she cried, frightened.

"Hey honey, you all right?" Piper questioned shakily, Prue always handled any nightmares Pattie had, this was foreign to her. Pattie clung to her.

"The nightmare came back," she mumbled. Phoebe didn't understand, but she tried to anyway.

"Which one?"

"Mom's death," Pattie whimpered sadly. "Where's Aunt Paige?"

It struck them then; Pattie was disoriented and unaware of where she was. She didn't remember the day's events, and that she was back in 2000. She clearly believed she was in her own time, with the people who had a grasp at what was going on. Neither knew what to say or who this Paige person was that Pattie had mentioned.

Phoebe took the ropes in trying to console her. She deflected the comment on Paige and pretended she was enlightened on the situation with Prue's death, like she'd handled this many times before. "Just remember what I said before, okay? It's all over now. Your mom will always love you, you know that right?"

Pattie nodded, it seemed to be working so far.

"Besides, why dream about something bad when there are so many good memories to dream about?" Piper asked. She hoped Prue couldn't hear her crying from a few doors down, if she walked in at the wrong time things could get ugly.

"I can't help it," Pattie replied. "It just happens when I think about her."

Piper strived for a helpful answer. "I guess, sweetie, when you think about that fact that she's gone you get scared and you remember when it happened. So why don't you think about how happy she made you instead? Then you might be able to dream about a happier time."

"Yeah," Pattie sniffled. She hadn't thought of that. "Okay."

"All right," Phoebe said, helping her lie back down but not letting one of her hands go. "Do you want us to stay with you until you fall back asleep?"

Pattie nodded somberly, pulling the blankets to her neck. "I love you both so much."

"We love you too, Pattie," Piper replied, smiling though it was hard.

"Can you tell Aunt Paige I love her too when she gets home?" she asked, already half-asleep and putting herself in more trouble with each word.

Phoebe frowned at Piper, wondering who this person could be that Pattie had mentioned her twice already, she seemed to have a strong influence in her niece's life; Pattie clearly loved her. "Of course we will, sweetie," she replied, rather unsure of herself.

Sure enough, Pattie's unconscious soon took over as she thought about Prue's love and how big it had been for her. Moment of joy flashed before her eyes. The time when she'd first spoken after Andy's death that Prue had mentioned earlier, running into her mother's arms after her first play, Prue reading her a story as Pattie snuggled in her arms, and finally the day she learned to ride her bike.

_"I'm never gonna do it," six-year-old Pattie whined to Prue. They were on one of the sidewalks at Golden Gate Park and she fiercely gripped the handles of her two-wheeler bike which was pink with a basket and streamers flooding out of the handlebars. Already she'd fallen off the bike four times without injury and they'd been out there for over two hours but Pattie had begged to learn and Prue was determined to teach her._

_Prue helped her back on the bike, "Not with that attitude you won't."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Well, my dear, if you think positive, there will be success," Prue explained, steadying Pattie as she put her feet on the pedals shakily. "You just need the right motivation." She squeezed Pattie's shoulders and the little girl giggled, curious to what her mother had up her sleeve. "Just start pedaling, okay?" Pattie did, slowly, with Prue holding on to her. Prue looked around and when she saw that the area of the park they were in was barren, she spoke, still keeping her voice down. "All right, well you see that demon over there?" Prue asked, pointing to an area of air._

_Pattie didn't catch on. "No," she shook her head._

_"Well, that's because he's not really there."_

_"Mommy—" Pattie chuckled._

_"But if he was," Prue interrupted, "he has me captured. You are all alone and can only vanquish him by running him over with a bike; I think you would be able to huh?" Pattie stared at her, still pedaling. "Just keep your eyes ahead of you and think about staying up so you can get to that demon and save me, okay? Don't think about the wheels, just keep pedaling. Don't stop."_

_Pattie set her eyes on the imaginary demon and pretended she was the hero out to rescue her mom. Before she knew it Prue had let her go and she was pedaling freely._

_"That's it!" Prue announced._

_"I'm doing it!" Pattie cheered, once she realized she was on her own._

_"I'm so proud of you," Prue said once she caught up with Pattie, who put her foot down to steady herself._

_"Mommy! I caught the demon!" she cried happily, giving Prue a hug._

_Thankfully no one was around to hear so Prue let it go. She returned her little girl's hug, cherishing the moment. "I knew you could. Come on, I hear two ice cream cones calling our names to celebrate."_

_"I hear them too," Pattie told her. Then she jumped back on her bike. "Race ya!" she giggled, and took off._

_"Oh no you don't, missy!" Prue called after her, smiling even as she took off into a run to catch up with her daughter._

Piper and Phoebe still sat on the edge of Pattie's bed as she slept, a smile inching it's way across her face. "We did it," Phoebe exclaimed quietly. "What you said, it helped. We dealt with something on our own."

"There's a first for everything," Piper sighed. "Come on," she said, getting up. "Let's go see Prue."

"Should we tell her about Paige?" Phoebe asked nervously.

"No," Piper replied leading them towards the door. "Let's leave that for another day."

Out the door they headed, leaving behind the child that had changed their lives, sleeping peacefully for the first time in awhile. She continued to smile through her dreams, free of nightmares.

One tragedy down, another to come, but they'd get through it.

One step at a time.

**Wow, I never guessed I'd become so engrossed in this story. I actually had a lot more planned for this chapter but I felt this was enough so I'm splitting one chapter into two, I hope I'll have the next up tomorrow but if not it'll be up soon. The scene with Prue's death was taken right from the show to make it more real, I just broke it into detail and tweaked a little bit to add Pattie, of course. Endless thanks to PirateQueen716 for getting me through writer's block. I know where I'm going with the story now down to the last line, so keep up your reviews. I love hearing opinions, can you get me up to 45 reviews? Did you like this chapter? Thanks for supporting me guys, you make this so easy to write!**

**-Megan**


	8. 7: An Aid to the Future

When she stirred from a restless slumber, Pattie rubbed her eyes, noticing she wasn't alone. The figure was too blurry to make out clearly. Groaning, and not in the mood for company, she mumbled. "Go away!"

"Are you sure you want me to leave, darling?" the voice replied. Slowly pulling the quilt away from her face, Pattie was surprised to see that her visitor was, in fact, her grandmother.

Pattie glanced at the clock as bright sun was just beginning glow in the sky and pour into the bedroom with a sparkling radiant light. She could barely believe that it was only 5:30 in the morning and it was a weekend. Her mom and aunts probably wouldn't be up for another 2 ½ hours.

Using what little energy she had, Pattie pushed herself up into a sitting position, "How long have you been here?" she wanted to know.

"Long enough," Patty mused, watching as her granddaughter found a brush from her dresser and worked it through the tangles of her long chestnut hair. "You've had a long night, as far as I witnessed."

"I screwed up," Pattie admitted, falling back onto the bed and into her grandmother's arms. At least here she was relieved to know she didn't have to worry about the things she said, none of them would affect spirits. "I wasn't ready to tell her who I was yet but she found out because of the birthmark on my wrist. Then, to make it worse, I went to the graveyard to see Dad and she was there!" Pattie cried quietly. "I spilled the truth about her death by accident, now they all know. I am a pathetic excuse for a witch," she muttered unhappily as Patty held her tighter,

"Oh, spare me the dramatics!" another voice echoed, and both Patty and her granddaughter raised their heads anxiously to the ceiling, but by then the golden swirls of light were already bringing Penny Halliwell back from the afterlife. She had her hands gently placed on her hips and was giving Pattie one of her famous stares.

It was one that said_, "I don't have time for this nonsense."_

Pattie found herself unexpectedly smiling. Of all people, her great-grandmother always had the perfect comeback for everything, and knew just when she was needed to show up. She never failed. "Grams!" Pattie squealed happily, running into her arms.

"Well, my dear, you really have gotten yourself tied up in a bit of a dilemma haven't you?" she queried.

"Mother—," Patty went to interrupt dryly, sometimes her mother could be a bit too blunt, she felt.

"Oh, Patty let's not kid ourselves here," Penny continued, leading herself and Pattie back over to the bed and sitting down. "She's brought herself back to the past and being as she is a Halliwell, Pattie will be smart enough to get herself home, won't you darling?"

They both looked to Pattie hopefully, who shrugged, "I don't know how to get home. I don't have my powers, I screwed up any chance of getting help from my family, and my spell-casting screwed me over the first time, I can't rely on words to bring me back to eight years in the future." As she explained, Patty looked on sympathetically, knowing her granddaughter was at a loss for confidence.

"You miss your own time, don't you?" she inquired, and Pattie nodded agreeably.

"Except…mom," she began, but then halted, looking to Penny.

She folded Pattie into her arms. "Yes, Pattie, I know what's going to happen. I've been watching too, you know," she explained. Penny could be tough-as-nails, but then she could also be very comforting and Pattie felt safe now. "I don't know what damage has been done by what was found out last night, if any or a lot."

"I figured as much," Pattie grumbled.

"Oh, child, don't take so much pity on yourself," Penny shushed her, "It was an honest mistake. There aren't many of us who can say we wouldn't make the same mistake if put in your position."

Pattie relaxed a little, "Really?"

"Of course," Patty reassured her. "But what I told you before still stands to reason now. There's nothing more we can do except to give you advice, you need to find what _you_ can do and not affect your future."

"No pressure there," Pattie replied, half-heartedly falling further into Penny's arms.

"Kid, if you don't have a positive attitude then there won't be any success," Penny reminded her.

A tear slipped down Pattie's cheek, "Mom's said that to me before, figures she learned it from you." Penny smiled graciously, rubbing Pattie's back. Even as powerful as she was, it was still a new experience for Penny to encounter future people from the afterlife, much less her great-granddaughter. She was in awe at how such a young girl could manage the power alone to bring herself back, whether or not it was an accident.

She soothed Pattie the way she had her mother and aunts as children. Patty watched this, feeling the young girl's pain. Desperately, Patty wished there was an answer she could give, but it was up to the girl to find one on her own.

"Have you thought about utilizing all of your allies?" Patty asked her carefully.

Pattie stared at her for a second, "Like who?"

"I don't know, anyone from this time who can help you fix the damage you may have done, or at least remedy it," she offered, stroking Pattie's hand and gazing at her empathetically.

"Patricia," Penny scolded her daughter, "you're not helping her."

"Mother, you know we can't influence her decision, the most ability we're aloud is to try and guide her in the right direction without any vital information," she retorted in her own defense as well as Pattie's.

The two became engaged in a heated conversation over Pattie's best interests but the argument stopped when they noticed that Pattie was not only amused by the situation, she was giggling uncontrollably. When they both looked at her with a curious stare she replied, "I just miss this, hearing you two argue. You always do it when you get summoned," she explained, remembering the time Patty had been called to settle a dispute between Penny and Victor after the girls had suffered the consequences of a spell and reverted back to adolescence. Both had their own opinion on how to fix the matter and Patty was the one to resolve the problem. Of course, banter was exchanged before that, much between the two women and Pattie had felt like she was part of a normal family listening to it, sarcastic comments and all.

Patty considered her granddaughter's innocence as she was still young and smiled warmly. "Well I'm glad we could entertain you, sweetheart," she said wryly. "Just consider the reason you may have been sent back here, all right? Can you promise me that?"

"Of course I can," Pattie agreed, giving Patty another hug, enjoying another lost moment with family.

"I hope we were able to provide some comfort for you," Penny noted as she watched Pattie crawl into her daughter's arms. Patty brushed hair from the girl's face lovingly. "Don't lose that logic of yours. Be safe and be smart, especially once you're back home, and you _will _get home you here me?" she asked, a tone in her voice which Pattie read as a hollow threat only meant to give her confidence.

"Yes, ma'am," she smiled obediently, and then hugged Penny again. "I love you both so much."

"We love you too dear," Patty said, blowing her a kiss, to which the white balls of light circled her and then she was gone as Pattie blew her one back.

"Always," Penny said, finishing the statement for her daughter, "No matter what time you're in." Then with one last wink, she grinned and was gone as well, leaving Pattie as alone again.

She felt alone.

Pattie looked around for the picture which sat on her nightstand in her 2008 room, the one in the purple frame which had been her inspiration for this spell in the first place. As she did an eerie chill reminded her the day had yet to happen, this picture wasn't in existence. In fact, it was coming up in a few weeks if she remembered correctly.

"I want those happy memories to be around forever," she whispered to no one else but herself.

An idea struck Pattie quickly. Being stuck in the past, her nightmare, spells, the one person she needed most right now but wasn't there. Down the hall her three family members lay soundly asleep, but somewhere across town the missing piece of the puzzle roamed free.

Paige.

Pattie knew the nightmare well, every detail of Prue's death. _Maybe, _she thought, _this could benefit me. I can take what was missing and fix it. I can help my mother survive. I can have her, __**and **__Aunt Paige._

Somehow Pattie channeled the other voices out, the ones that said she was making a mistake, that that was impossibility, and that she had other people and other things to worry about. For all the wrong reasons she was making this decision; Pattie was diving in blind.

"If I can find Aunt Paige, maybe somehow I can guide her to us, so that even if I save mom I can still have her," she decided quietly. "Then I can find that spell that Aunt Phoebe should have said to stop Shax, say it, and save mom." She felt like she'd hit a stream of success. _Thanks to a positive attitude, _she thought happily. But the problem was still there, she couldn't remember exactly where Paige worked, or where her apartment had been. And even if she did find her, Pattie didn't know what she'd exactly say.

Then, she remembered what Patty had said about using her allies.

It all became clear.

Grabbing a piece of jewelry from her younger self's jewelry box which could back up her identity, Pattie quietly tiptoed down the stairs and then left a sticky note on the refrigerator.

_**Out – don't worry about me. I'll be back soon, I promise.**_

Then Pattie headed out the door, pulling her sweatshirt hood over her head.

An early morning air whipped through the streets of San Francisco as Pattie hurried down the nearly vacant sidewalks of the city. It was barely six when she'd left the house and even with the hood of her sweatshirt pulled over her head to conceal her identity she still shivered. It wasn't like anyone was going to recognize her anyway except hopefully the person she was heading for.

He was her only hope.

Pattie pulled her hands inside her sweatshirt, taking off into a run down the concrete. She was thankful that it was early and many people weren't out yet. The few she had seen watched as she passed some nervously like she was a mischievous teenager and others with pure curiosity. Feeling the eyes on her made Pattie want to run faster, to slip away entirely, she wanted her powers so she could become invisible.

After sprinting three blocks, knowing how far away from the manor she'd been, Pattie wished she'd just asked Leo for assistance; it would have saved so much energy, she knew.

But asking Leo would have meant going through Piper, and that wasn't an option for this situation.

Finally, the sight of the police station came into view and Pattie let out a long sigh of relief. She gripped the rail on one of the steps, collapsing for a minute on them and taking shallow breaths until slowly she'd put her breathing back in order. Then when she gathered all her courage together, Pattie stood and walked into the station.

As she expected, the precinct was nearly empty. Fortunately though, the person she'd been hoping to see was seated at his desk rummaging through a mess of files, scribbling a few notes down for a case file. She didn't know if he'd just got on, or if he had been on all night.

Inspector Darryl Morris.

Pattie felt herself choke up; it was now or never.

"Inspector Morris," Pattie said, clearing her throat and walking up to his desk. He was taken from his thoughts and looked up at her with confusion.

"What the—who are you?" Darryl inquired suspiciously.

Pattie pulled the hood from over her head and then held out her wrist to present him the bracelet he'd given her for her sixth birthday not long after Andy's death. "I'm a Halliwell," she said simply, "just a few years ahead of your time. And I need your help."

He took the jewelry from her hand and inspected in carefully. Darryl would be like family to them for years, and seeing as Andy's tragic death had caused her so much sadness, Darryl felt it necessary to give her something when her sixth birthday rolled around. Sure enough, the inscription read: _Happy Birthday, Love Darryl. _He looked at her, misgiving flashing through his eyes, though Darryl was sure he could see bits and pieces of the little girl that was always running around the Halliwell manor, the same one Andy had cherished.

"Wow," he said, dumbstruck. "Magic really can do every damn thing out there can't it?"

"Except get me home," she muttered quietly, and then continued when Darryl looked at her confused. "So you believe me, you know it's Pattie?"

He studied her for a minute, and then replied, "Well, I guess I got to hope you're not a demon, don't I?"

"If I were a demon I wouldn't stoop this low," Pattie scoffed, her hair tangled from the wind despite her hood and her jeans light washed jeans tattered at the bottom, an old pair she always wore when just wanting to be comfortable. Even demons normally shape-shifted with style though, Pattie had to admit; she hadn't been dressed for time travel, but she was happy she changed from her graduation clothes at all. "Believe me. I just ran all the way from the manor just to see you."

"Oh yeah, so your family knows you're here, right?" Darryl asked. He was already reaching for the phone, "Should I call them?" But Pattie intercepted the phone from his hand and slammed it down. "I guess you have other plans."

"They know I'm here, but they don't know I'm talking to you. And they can't, so if they say anything to you, I was never around, especially not this early. I just need to get some information from you so I can fix what I screwed up." Pattie waited, thinking for a minute that Darryl might go right past her to her aunts anyway, but when he finally nodded, Pattie relaxed. She was getting somewhere.

"So…" he began slowly, "What is it exactly that you?"

"Just a little bit about a certain…Paige Matthews," Pattie said simply.

"And that is...?" The name didn't signify any recognition for him.

"Future stuff Darryl," Pattie groaned folding her arms; she hoped he wasn't stalling for some reason. Darryl always managed to be overly doubtful about everything magic, his disbeliefs on some level always got in the way. Yes, they were family but he didn't realize that magic affected him. "Listen, you help me and it helps you doesn't it?" she countered, not including that by this point in her life Darryl was on the East Coast, far from the Halliwells.

"How do you manage to swing that into helping…" he stopped abruptly, rolling his eyes. "I don't even want to know." Muttering, Darryl turned to face the computer, pulling up a database of people in the city. With Pattie looking over his shoulder, Darryl typed in the name which meant nothing to him and everything to Pattie.

The computer took what seemed like hours to search through endless files until it recovered records on Paige, only 23. "Yes, that's her!" she squealed happily, wrapping her arms around Darryl. "You always come through for us, don't you?"

Darryl smiled, happy to be of help. "Anything for family."

The clock had crept to quarter to seven by the time Darryl finally pulled the car into the parking lot of the Social Services building with Pattie in the passenger seat. She clutched the edges of the seat with both hands, thinking her plan through for the first time. Darryl turned to her carefully, "This is as far as I go," he told her. "You sure you're going to be able to handle…this?" When she raised an eyebrow at him he corrected himself. "Oh, that's right. You're a Halliwell."

She laughed, "You do know us too well. Thanks for everything Darryl. We really appreciate it, even when it doesn't seem like it sometimes," Pattie confessed, knowing what the future would hold, a bitter struggle to make amends with Darryl.

"All right," he agreed, "good to know. You guys are second family to us, magic or not. It's not a problem."

_Oh let's see if you still say that in four years, _she sighed, climbing out of the car. "Thanks. I'll get myself home, don't worry." With that she waved and Darryl drove away, leaving Pattie to stuff her hands in her pockets and stare at the building where her aunt was. Paige was always at work early before her Wiccan days, or so she'd been told. Pattie desperately hoped she'd be there now.

Still, Pattie didn't know what she'd say.

Taking a deep breath, Pattie pushed forward and walked through the glass doors and into her aunt's work place. While Paige had still worked there, Pattie hadn't spent too much time there but it still had a familiar feeling to her, the atmosphere and the workers.

As she wandered around, looking dismally for Paige and not finding any luck, Pattie's hope began to fall.

Until she bumped right into her.

"Oh!" Pattie yelped, falling backwards as Paige stumbled and held on to the files in her hand, pushing a piece of her sleek black hair behind her ear. Concerned for this strange girl, she knelt down next to her.

"Sweetie, I'm so sorry, are you all right?" she questioned, laying a hand on her back. Pattie was caught up in her own shock for a second, lost in the memories of when she first met Paige. It took her a minute to disentangle herself from her own thoughts. "Hey, are you okay?" Paige asked again.

Pattie realized she was probably being mistaken for a runaway, abused, or homeless child. She wasn't sure what to think of that, whether or not to use it to her advantage or set Paige straight. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I…I didn't see you there," she stuttered. "I was kind of looking for someone just to talk to about some…things," she dragged out the last word, gulping.

Paige put the files on her desk, "Yeah, sure, I'm sure I could find someone who…"

"No!" Pattie interrupted, this wasn't going as she planned. "I mean, you're right here, can't I just talk to you?"

Paige wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't exactly sure which direction to take seeing as she wasn't technically a social worker, just an assistant. Even though she was supposed to hand Pattie over to someone else, she worried for the girl who was already on edge might run if she did. "Lila," she called, "I'll be back in a little bit, okay?"

Lila went to interfere until she saw Pattie with Paige and then nodded.

Meanwhile, Pattie had figured out a plan to make Paige construe her words as a sign, guidance. All of this had to be done without revealing who she was, not that it would make any sense to Paige anyway. They sat down a good distance away from other workers, and Paige placed a hand on Pattie's shoulder. "So, why don't you tell me why you're here," she offered sweetly.

"Well, my foster mom and dad died when I was little and this place does adoptions…right?" Pattie lied, she knew they did. Paige nodded, listening attentively. "So I live with some really great family now, but I don't know…I guess I just want to know my roots. And I'm not sure if I should, you know?" Pattie saw Paige perk up; she knew it fell in the realm of experiences that hit close to home for her, that's why she was leading Paige there. "I'm sorry," she continued, "this is stupid."

When Pattie went to stand up and leave, she rested her desires on waiting for Paige to stop her. It looked like Paige was considering things for herself, which was what Pattie hoped for. Then a hand grabbed hers.

"Wait," Paige finally gathered herself together, her soft blue eyes gazing into Pattie's. "I know how you feel."

"You do?"

"I was adopted too." Pattie pretended to be surprised, but inside she was just glad her plan seemed to be working. "Being adopted doesn't make your family any less special, right?" Paige asked. "But it's not wrong to want to know where you came from either. Trust me, if you want to go into finding out your biological family, I think you should and I think you should seek the support of the family you already have to do it." It was good advice, and Pattie wondered how much she was already struggling with this now, how much had she wanted to meet the Halliwells all her life?

"So," Pattie went on, swinging her feet off the edge of the bench. "Did you look for your family?"

"Oh, honey…" Paige trailed off, almost not answering her. When she saw Pattie really wanted to know, Paige decided it would be a good idea to share this, to help Pattie relate to someone. "I have, a little bit. I'm just not sure how much I'm ready yet, or how ready they are."

"I think you should," Pattie encouraged, smiling. "You've sure made me want to."

Okay, so that was a lie, but it pushed Paige in the direction Pattie was hoping for. "I'll consider it," Paige replied slyly, to which Pattie felt ready to burst with joy. Her plan was working. "And I thought you were looking for my help."

"Believe me," Pattie replied, her smile fading instantly. "It's already been given. Thank you," she said honestly, giving Paige a hug. Paige didn't expect it, nor did she realize that she was holding her own niece, but she returned Pattie's embrace, feeling a sensation as she did. A sense of awareness. Pattie wanted to stay in Paige's arms forever; she wanted to lose them no less than she wanted to lose Prue. Desperately, Pattie begged to the spirits that her plan was working.

After all, she was using her allies, wasn't she?

"It was nothing," Paige brushed the situation off. "It's my job after all. And if you ever need help looking just come back and ask for Paige Matthews, all right?"

"Of course," Pattie replied, knowing that wouldn't happen. "Thanks Paige." At that Pattie winced instinctively, she'd never called her that before without adding aunt to it, it just seemed strange.

When the silence loomed over them, Pattie thought Paige might leave, but still she sat patiently, as if waiting for Pattie to confide in her more. She wanted to share the world with her aunt, but now wasn't the time. As soon as she was home though, Pattie planned on spending time with her _and _Prue.

Pattie took a leap of faith at the next question, feeling she may as well. "Do you believe in magic?"

Suddenly silence became loud when Paige eyed her with curiosity. "What kind of magic?"

"Like witches, demons, spells and potions. That everything happens for a reason if you believe in it and if you're supposed to be somewhere you'll get there." Pattie was speaking more to herself at this point, becoming lost in her own wonders, convincing herself again and again that what she was doing was right.

She saw the Halliwell in Paige when the girl didn't back away instantly like Pattie was a monster and instead replied. "I never considered it, really," she supposed, rubbing Pattie's shoulder, the one thing she always did when Pattie was distraught and needed comfort. Another reminder how Pattie needed Paige in her life. Then Paige winked, "I'll let you know."

When Paige's boss Mr. Cowan appeared and called her over, Paige felt the need to politely excuse herself. "I'm really sorry, honey, but I have to get back to work. If you want to come back later you can."

"No, I think you've done what you can. I'll be in touch," Pattie promised. _Close touch soon, _she thought.

Another quick hug and just as Paige was parting she realized she hadn't asked the most important question, "Hey, I never asked you your name!"

People were gathering here and there and voices were getting loud as they separated but Pattie shouted over it all. "Halliwell! Pattie Elizabeth Halliwell!" That was the one thing she _could _share. She was sure she'd muffled the word _Pattie _enough that the noise covered it, but the _Halliwell _part would stick with her until she would hopefully bring herself back to them, her family.

Her real family.

She caught Paige's eye as she walked away, and they shared a smile.

On the way home, Pattie felt proud of herself for this, she was about to cheat death as she knew it, despite every feeling telling her she wouldn't and couldn't. Now all she had to do was find the spell to stop the loss. She barely noticed the wind as it pelted her in gusts, finally reaching the Manor somewhere around eight, where the sisters were seated lazily out on the couch, barely awake.

"There she is," Piper announced as she walked warily into the conservatory.

"Oh, you had me so worried," Prue cried, pulling Pattie close to her. "Don't do that again."

"I left a note," Pattie reminded her.

"Pattie, your mother is neurotic and overprotective when it comes to you, it's her job," Phoebe explained as Pattie let Prue hold on to her tight, she felt herself smile a little, knowing what was coming if she could just escape. She didn't realize Piper and Phoebe were intent on figuring out what her nightmare the prior night had included as well as another brutal truth.

When she plopped down on the couch, Prue offered immediately, "I'll get you something to eat," and shuffling out of the room to distract herself from the obvious awkwardness.

"How'd you sleep last night?" Piper asked, glancing Phoebe's way, unnoticed to Pattie.

"Fine," Pattie replied genuinely, no recollection of her rough night.

"Good," Phoebe said, folding the section of the newspaper she was reading and sitting next to Pattie. "Because I think it's time you explained to us something we've been dying to know before your mother comes back."

"Look if it's about where I went this morning—" she was cut off.

"It's not," Phoebe assured her, making a mental note to keep that on her mind. "Something else."

"What then?" she asked, looking from Piper to Phoebe who seemed pretty surprised she couldn't remember everything that had occurred the previous night. They were going to have to let her down gently. Pattie wished Prue would walk back into the room, but she seemed to be conveniently busy, it figured.

Piper rested one hand on her knee and asked softly. "Who's Paige?"

**Dun dun dun… I love cliffhangers, don't you? Sorry this took so long to get up, I lost the inspiration to write it and it'll probably have a bunch of errors in it because it's late and I'm posting it just so you can read it all that much sooner! I'll fix it later, I promise. But I really need your reviews because I'm not sure how confident I am with this one. Want to read more? I promise I'll try to get an update in this weekend!**

**Thanks for all your support so far,**

**Megan**


	9. 8: Make the Sacrifice

**A/N: This chapter will be in 1****st**** person, Pattie's POV. I'm pretty sure it'll be the last 1****st**** person chapter until the epilogue but you guys responded well to the last one so I thought I'd give it a go! Have your tissues ready!**

I can feel their eyes bearing down on me, my Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Piper's, a million things running through my head and none of them making sense. Mainly though, there's just one question.

How do they know?

"I…" a single word falls from my lips, and I look to my aunts, who anticipate more. "I don't know who or what you're talking about." Lying through my teeth.

Aunt Phoebe finds the patience to calmly explain, "You asked for her last night, dear, after your nightmare, remember?" I can vaguely remember the stinging pain of my recurring memory of May 17, 2001, always appearing in my dreams. Were they there when I woke up sobbing, did I really ask for my aunt? Why would I? Is it possible I lost track of what time I'm in? "Pattie, look at me," Aunt Phoebe summons my eyes towards her, but I can't. She repeats the line again, the irony of this conversation dawning on me. "Patricia Elizabeth, look at me." I bring myself to do so and when our eyes meet, I fall into her trap quicker than I realize.

_Anything but the truth, _I remind myself, _anything._

Still, I see that look of empathy, a gaze that says how she feels your anguish but tries to remind you that secrets as a witch are never worth keeping, you have enough already. It's hard to build a plausible story.

"A close friend," I mumble, very unsure of my own words. It was the first thing to come to mind. "You guys love her, like family. Like…sisters." I really have to bite my tongue with the last word.

Aunt Phoebe remains wary, "And you call her _aunt _Paige?"

"Habit," I tell her. "She's as much of family as you or Aunt Piper are to me. She loves me and I love her and that will never change." That's a piece of the truth, plain and simple.

When my mom bounds back into the room with a plate of hot food for breakfast, I spring backwards. With each word the three of us had leaned forward more and more, absorbed in our conversation, like a secret club or survivors trying to keep out the world. My mother notices my discomfort almost instantly, but despite my aunts managing to remain in control of themselves over the appearance I can sense their tenseness. It's an ability I've developed over passing years and learned to perfect with all the time I spend in their company. We share a mutual feeling now.

A hope that Mom heard nothing.

"Ah, subtle," she grins, sitting herself close to me, a protectiveness I find myself liking, "very subtle."

"What?" I ask with an innocent smile which professes the obvious guilt.

She rests the plate with two buttermilk pancakes and a helping of crisp toast on my lap. "You weren't talking about me at all," she says, a tone of cynicism apparent. And we weren't, but I happen to be the only one who knows how much the subject really does relate to _her. _

In any case, Aunt Piper saves me. "Prue, not everything in this world is focused on you, you know," she kids with a painful smile. They try to forget the sadness dumped on them last night, but without any luck. "So self absorbed." She throws another smirk Mom's way.

"Ha, ha," Mom drones out a fake laugh. "Such a comedian, Piper."

Picking at my food and carving lines through it with a fork, I frown as a thought washes over me. "You didn't cook this yourself, did you?"

My mom isn't exactly a five-star chef.

Aunt Phoebe clamps her hand over her mouth, an unsuccessful endeavor to smother her giggles. She falls forward laughing obnoxiously. "Oh all right missy," she pokes me with her own wide smile. "I see you inherited the Halliwell tradition of teasing and sarcastic comments." When I continue to shoot her a playful glare, she corrects her statement. "Fine so that wasn't sarcastic, I'm not the best cook around," she admits.

"Speaking lightly," I giggle, pressing my luck and giving Aunt Phoebe a high five.

"You really are terrible!" Mom exclaims, pulling the dish away from me momentarily to make a point. "Why am I feeding such an ungrateful little girl?"

I lean against her affectionately, "Because you love me."

That's the right answer of course; she returns me food to me and then reassures me. "We've been up for an hour now. Your Aunt Piper made the pancakes and I reheated them and then made you the toast." Just for laughs, I stare strangely at the bread as if it could kill me. She glowers, "Even I can't poison toast."

"Why not? There's the demon of illusion and demon of fear," Aunt Phoebe adds, "Why not the demon of tainted food?"

"She kills people with her cooking," Aunt Piper finishes, scrunching her face up with a laugh at her own joke.

My entire family laughs at the witty banter as I inhale my food, not realizing how hungry I was until the plate is empty. Before any of us can react, I'm cuddled up next to my mother, already half-asleep. When I was little before magic was a thought, we'd watch NickJr on this couch every morning until I ended up dozing off in her arms for a morning nap, just like this.

I could sleep now, just keep dreaming and never wake up.

My mom is visibly enjoying this, being able to help me relive my childhood, she so relaxed. Since Roger, Gram's untimely death, and magic there were rare days I could actually feel her let go. Maybe my presence was important to remind her how necessary leisurely time with the family is while it's still available to her.

"Where's little Pattie…or me?" I finally ask, remembering how Em's parties often ended early.

"Still at Em's costume party. I'll call Emily's mother later and ask if she can spend the day there, even thought you probably know what's going on. I don't want you near it yet," Mom tells me.

"I'm sure I know, I pick up on everything," I offer proudly. They all grin agreeably.

I can see how Aunt Piper wants to ask about mom's death, especially after this nightmare I barely remember. She wants to stop it but she doesn't have to worry, I'll beat her there.

As soon as I can get away.

For now though, escaping my family isn't a main prerogative. Spending lost time with them is a gift, making up for words we never got to share. We talk conversations of many varieties. I learn things I never knew and feel closer to my mom. It makes my decision even more definitive.

I thank magic for screwing me over; it's about to bless me twice.

Worry consumes me none-the less. At home I hope my aunts haven't yet discovered my absence. It's in them to assume the worst; although I would hope that the fact that my room remained it tact speaks out to them. If I demon tried to take me, I'd fight like hell to protect myself, not just fall victim.

The sooner I get this done the better.

"I'll be right back, all right?" I ask, and they all nod, too engrossed in the conversation to think anything of where I could possibly go. I head upstairs and straight to the attic, a familiar territory. The Book of Shadows and I are coming face to face again and but I've been running words through my head all morning. I don't know how to get myself home, but I'm becoming sure that I just might be able to get myself to May 17, 2001 without any assistance. I consider the candles to call my grandmother again but then stop, this is my battle. I'll have to come back here to let mom know what I've done afterwards, maybe then I can tell her about Paige, but otherwise it's set. After paging through the Book of Shadows for one spell in particular, I grab a yellow pad and begin to jot down three spells. One to vanquish Shax, one to get to 2001, and one to get back.

Magic School books have always said time travel was easier to get to one time than to get back to your own, so I'm assuming that's why I don't know how to get home. But I think I'm confident with this. Shax needed the power of three to be vanquished, but maybe me, a next generation Halliwell can subdue that demon.

I want him to burn in hell forever.

My time is running slim before anyone in my family realizes that I'm not coming back downstairs right away. I'll be toast, but they can thank me later. I take one more glance around the room before I hold the paper in front of me and chant the words off it at, thinking of the lives I'm going to be saving, moms and my own.

_A family whose lives I need to defend._

_For the reign of a treacherous demon I hope to end_

_Take me back to a day where the life of a Charmed One fell_

_And help me to save Prudence Halliwell_

Glowing spheres of light return to me, cloaking me until I disappear from 2000 and resume just a mere six months later in 2001. May 17, 2001.

What I discover is that I have less time than I actually realized. Now pieces of my dream from the night prior begin to conform themselves together into a stable memory, this memory, this moment in time where I lost it all. It all unfolds at my feet. I'm situated on the stairwell, peeking out from behind the wall and listening to the rich voice of my mother, older by six months but just as beautiful. Her tone always amazed me, how she could manage to capture so much compassion to convey to innocents no matter how jittery she was herself.

A jitteriness that was suited in its own right, especially considering the circumstances.

"Look, I know that this all sounds incredible, but it doesn't make it any less true. Alright, you're a healer, you do good, now either you have saved too many lives or you're about to save a life that they don't want you to save," she explains. I'm close enough in range that I can here her, but not in sight.

My own voice is squeaky for a seven-year-old when I reply. I'd been so excited then, turning eight in only a month, not ever thinking what monstrous piece of my life would be missing by then. Fear racks my body when I think about this spell, trying to feel competent, secure in my own abilities. After all, I _am_ the daughter of a Charmed one. My power is magnified from each one of theirs, that much has been apparent over the years and it should still apply to me now, despite where I am.

_**Right?**_

Suddenly I stop drowning myself in anxieties and listening to Dr. Griffith's rants fills my ears. "…My second wife put you up to this? Ah, it's just like her." I wonder why he couldn't just believe us.

I listen to myself. "It's true!" There had been so much anger boiling in my tiny body over this man, I wonder if it's relevant to the fact that I chose not to save him that day. Or was he, like Mom, destined to die then? "Make him listen mommy!" I lean over against the side wall peering down and watching myself wrap my tiny arms tighter around my mother's neck and looking to her for some support. I always enlisted her to defend me. That was another reason her being gone was difficult, I have to learn to be independent and stand up for myself.

I'm so occupied this conversation that for a second I completely forget about the arrival of Shax. That is, I forget until I watch my mother set me down mid-conversation, confessing that she's feeling a chill. Before I was too young to know this but when I was in the fifth grade I learned from a friend that if a person felt a chill if could signify that something bad was about to happen.

That always stuck with me.

Continuing to linger on the stairwell, my eyes almost well up when I hear the faint whimper. "I love you too, mommy." My last words to my mother. So simple, so perfect. I've always remembered how even in the dimmest situation she could manage to remind me that she loves me. Maybe she saw it coming, that's something I never considered before. Could that be because of my time travel? I want to doubt that, she said it even before I'd gone back. Magic works in mysterious ways, I swear.

"Phoebe, are you there?" my Mom's fearful voice strikes me hard. Then I know what's coming. I make sure not to move in case she sees me, but as soon as I hear my ear slicing scream I'm aware that they don't have time to worry about my presence anyway. My Mom and Aunt Piper land on the ground with a thud.

Shax is here.

The paper is so tight in my grasp that as Shax is materializing I nearly create holes in the thin substance as I clutch it, my entire body shaking as I begin to read the spell. "Evil wind that blows," I say only loud enough that the power will affect Shax, not loud enough to be audible. Four words so carefully read that I almost think I've said them wrong. The tornado had unveiled itself to Shax now, his malevolent grin piercing my confidence. Still, I know I can to this, there's no other choice if I want my mom back. No other choice. "That…which…" I fall out of it, unsure. Then, "That which forms below," I speak more clearly. He already seems partially impaired, confused over his sudden weakness. I've read half the spell, only half to go.

Before this moment in time I thought this would be easy but for some reason it's anything but that. I can hear the painful groans of my mother and aunt as they lay sprawled out against the ground, barely harmed but realizing how overpowered they may actually be. My own whimpers cloud my head.

"Dear God," Dr. Griffiths cries, his own voice escaping him as well. This man had been so intent on not believing in the existence of magic that I think he's still denying what is actually standing before him. I didn't notice it then, but there's still a small shadow of doubt registering somewhere deep in his eyes, some voice of reason telling him it's not real and that he's dreaming. I wish that he was, that I was, that we all were. One huge, _fake _dream. It's when I see a small figure, myself, moving towards Shax that I finally remember my purpose and get a jump start.

The paper crumbles in my hands, varnished in sweat. "No longer may you dwell…" I say with the sound diminishing at the last word. It's at that point that every memory of my mother begins running through my mind like a slideshow. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

None as bad as this impending moment though. If I don't get myself back on track quick enough and say the last line of the spell my chance will be pulled from underneath my feet quicker than I can stop it.

So why can't I?

The reminiscence of Mom becomes moments with Aunt Paige from early on to recently. Small things really; how she'd help me with my homework or say some silly quote from a movie she'd been watching and wait for me to laugh, which I would even half the time I didn't get it. A day where we'd spent hours among hours at the park with her teaching me to paint, carefully directing my hand across the paper, making strokes of color. The way it feels when she hugs me proudly after a good report card or how safe I've felt after every nightmare about Mom, her spouting every little reassurance that things would be okay. I'd tell her stories about her sister for hours and despite how alienated she may have felt, or how much she may have longed for that meaningful occasion where she'd get to meet Mom, she never interrupted me. And of everyone, she was the first person who brought me to my mother's grave after her passing, on Mom's birthday of that year. Why have I never thanked her for that?

I've been so sure all along that I could lead her to her biological family but I didn't consider the struggles she'll have with herself over the decision to find us. Aunt Paige has such a split personality and much like Mom she'll stage a war with herself over a choice until one side wins. What if she continues to convince herself that it's not right to look for us? Things were like that for endless years before then so how could a visit from one child change it?

You would think I could have figured how much the odds really did weigh against me before now. I may think I can stop this and still have my Aunt Paige in my life but what if I'm suddenly whisked away to the future upon finishing the spell? There's the chance I won't remember ever meeting her. And if you string a piece of thread through every good time after this, every important person we'll meet or each accomplishment heading our way, who is to say that they aren't connected to that very moment the Power of Three was reconstituted? Not long enough I thought about destiny, it always comes back to claim what it wants. Even if the spell is a success the Angel of Death probably won't be too pleased, and then he'll be back. I could be messing up a lot more than I bargained for.

I'll lose any remnant of memory regarding my aunt, uncles, cousins, Billie, and all of the good we've done in the past seven years. And that last thought insures what I've known all along but couldn't admit.

I can't do this.

Just in time, I bring the paper away from my face and watch my mother shove me out of the line of fire. Too frozen to scream or react, my eyes watch the horror again. I live it all over again. My mother flies through the wall, the sound of the boards snapping, lamp shattering, and crashing of wall pieces coming through clear as a bell. Blood spatters and I think my heart actually stops. This was something I didn't see before, the way her chest rose and fell, her strength still there but declining rapidly.

I've missed my chance to save her.

Aunt Piper has been used as a wrecking ball and is lying next to Mom after I blink again. What surprises me is how much it really hurts to see her, possibly more than it does to see mom. I can barely believe that I'm thinking that but the fact that I've got her at home walking around, very much alive, every day is what helped me erase this picture from my mind.

Now it's back with a vengeance.

I'm tormenting myself by doing this.

With what draining will power is still left I look to my mother's killer. I can almost feel myself shaking, no doubt channeling the emotions of my younger figure. I want to kill Shax but I know his ruining our lives will bring us knowledge about Aunt Paige, so I swallow my grief, the desire to be the one to end his life, and I do nothing. My hands drop to my sides and I clench when I hear it. "The end," his voice declares. The end of everything as I know it.

I don't look when he throws Dr. Griffiths through the plate glass and I don't know if I ever really cared or not. His lifeless body is of no interest to me when bigger things are at stake. If I'm selfish for that, I don't give a damn.

After all, destiny takes what it wants anyway, doesn't it? I was never very good at sharing.

By the time I can finally regain any length of control over my body, Shax is a swirling tornado again, twisting his way out of the Manor and leaving the destruction for us to pick up. Little Pattie gets to her feet and I realize how out of focus I was with glazed over eyes and jaw dropped. Still, my young self puts it aside and runs over to my family dropping down beside them and fretfully checking for a pulse.

I think I was stronger then than I am now. Ignorance to how grave death is can really be pure bliss. With Dad I was shielded as much as possible but with Mom I was alone, left to carry the burden of disaster without aid. It influenced me from an emotional standpoint more than I care to share.

I hear myself calling for my Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Leo stranded in the Underworld. No response.

Gripping the railing and leaning against the banister I unsteadily teeter down the stairs. My heart thumps in my chest but I have to be as inconspicuous as possible. One false move and I'll tear apart the future I just sacrificed everything to fix. Living this once was rough, twice is hell; my body has gone numb.

Using as little sound as possible, I run out of the hall and into the kitchen, pressing against my body against the wall closest to all of this and remaining there for what seems like hours until Uncle Leo finally orbs in. I hear his frightened cries. "Piper! Prue!" His wife, his charges, until then I don't think I'd ever seen him scared. He'd always been very professional, but family changes it all.

Not even a minute had passed before Cole shimmers Aunt Phoebe beside the clutter. One look and I heard her high-pitched scream out of instinct even though Shax was gone.

"Heal them Leo! Now!" she screams, leaving Cole's side instantly when she sees little me clutching my knees to my chest and rocking back and forth with my mother's hand still in mine, a severe grip. As thankful as she may have been to him, Aunt Phoebe kneels down adjacent to me anyway, trying to turn my head away from the horrific scene but damage is already done.

Damage had been done years ago.

"Come here, sweetheart, come on," she summons me to her arms, but I refuse without a word. "Let's get you away from this okay? Okay?" Aunt Phoebe tries again, desperate. Finally she manages to release Mom's hand, cold and lifeless already, from mine and I fall into her arms as she hoists me into the air, pressing my face into her shirt and trying to make me look away. But innocence had been lost a long time ago.

Then, I murmur, weeping, "Mommy."

Uncle Leo removes his hands from over Aunt Piper as her wounds finally begin to disappear, blood rushing back into her body, being whole again. It takes a minute due to the trauma but finally she opens her eyes slowly, unaware of her location right away but remembering when she sees her sister next to her.

"Leo," she demands, but he's already placed his hands over Mom, striving so hard to save her.

Aunt Piper and Aunt Phoebe hug, holding each other tightly, grateful for one life, waiting on another. I turn my head to look at her, still blubbering and she whispers in my ear that she loves me and she's proud I'd go up against Shax to save an innocent.

I can barely remember doing all of this as I continue to watch my younger self, but even after Aunt Piper's words, I point to Mom, fixated on her. My world. "Mommy," I say again.

It's when Uncle Leo stops doing anything that I bring my head back into the kitchen and my knees buckle. I sink to the corner on my knees, sobbing. I hear both Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Piper asking, "Why'd you stop, what's wrong?" simultaneously but everything else is clouded by my shrill cries.

Trying to muffle them doesn't work, but my family is too busy with a bigger problem to hear.

"I can't heal the dead," Uncle Leo says sadly. The sound of my footsteps as I run for my bedroom in denial of the situation is the last thing I hear because I drown out any more words, tears, or screams with my own sobbing.

I don't believe that I could screw so much up, that I could be so stupid as to believe I could save her, so selfish. I killed my mother by trying to stand up against that demon that day. I don't care what anyone says. I killed her. And that's why I cry now. Because I've learned that I can't fix it, I can't fix the biggest mistake of my life no matter what. She meant everything to me and she's been lost. I don't think I even deserve her.

In the middle of all of this I feel my body being pulled away from this time, this place. I'm being summoned.

I fear something bad, that I'll be back in 2008 with no explanation to give to my aunts and no chance to say goodbye to Mom again even though I doubt I really can say that. But when I get is worse.

2000.

The three of them stand there with their hands on their hips all darting eyes at me angrily. I'm still on my knees sobbing, but I try to pull myself together when I'm conscious of where I am. I wasn't ready to come back.

I scream, staring at my mother's eyes, full of compassion. "What the hell did you do that for?!"

**All right, I need your reviews now more than ever. I'll beg if I have to, but I REALLY want to know what you thought of this. It goes back to 3****rd**** person next chapter. Oh, I just thought I'd tell you that I realized Piper and Leo were married in 2001, which is also the time Prue saw the Angel of Death, and even though I've said it's October 2000 I also said all of that happened. So, I'm a little off, but the Charmed writers weren't known for continuity either so we're even. I will try to have a new chapter up really soon. Definitely before next week.**

**Thanks guys, your support means the world!**

**Megan**


	10. 9: Halliwells Show Up When You Need Them

In that moment, Pattie hated herself.

Not only had she just cursed, not just in front of her mother but to her, but Pattie still had various feelings of guilt washing through her. She honestly believed it was her fault, Prue's death, and it scared her. Pattie felt worthless, like she didn't deserve the love Prue was going to offer her or that of her aunts. How ever could she go back to her own time now?

Phoebe just stared at her for a minute, at then Prue who looked like she was replaying Pattie's words in her head, trying to make sense of them. "Pattie, what did you do?" she asked gently.

All three expected either another outburst or nothing at all, the two constants she'd had since arriving in this time. Phoebe knew it well, you either got it all with her niece or you got zero. But it was Pattie who fell to the floor in the attic right where she was, dropping straight down and letting her head fall in her hands. She spoke a solitary word, quietly. "Nothing."

Piper was the first to move and sit next to her. It was the first time she'd made a move towards being motherly to Pattie. Sure, they were close in 2000, but a teenager was different from a child. She was clueless on how to handle the situation so Piper did the things Prue had done with her growing up. She pulled her niece to her, pulling pieces of her hair back, smoothing it. "What, honey? What did you do nothing for, where did you go?"

Even though she felt she didn't deserve the love, guilt still reigning free, Pattie huddled close to Piper. She ran her fingers over the cuff of the shirt Piper was wearing absentmindedly. "The future," she whispered so softly Phoebe and Prue just barely heard. "The day my life changed forever."

Piper moved Pattie's face so they were eye to eye. "The day that—?"

Pattie's sudden crying cut her off. "Yes."

Prue had finally regained the composure to speak, and she and Phoebe joined Piper and Pattie on the ground, it seemed like they were holding her together in some way. Her family always had been the concrete that kept her from ultimately shattering.

"I failed you," she whispered her eyes red and blotched as she clutched Prue's hands. "I failed you."

Not one of them understood. Phoebe was the first to try. "Did you try to, I mean, you made an attempt at…" she fell short each time, a correct way to say what she meant escaping her.

So Prue pushed, she grabbed on to every motherly instinct in her and asked, "You wanted to save me?"

Pattie nodded somberly, her eyelashes coated in tears which fell heavily. "Yes."

"But, you…didn't?" Prue raised an eyebrow, running Pattie's soft skin under her fingers comfortingly. 

This time when Pattie sniffled and melted, Prue gripped her precious hands tighter as her little girl shook her head, no. "I couldn't" she blubbered, barely understood. "I wasn't supposed to." Then again, "I failed you."

Instead, Prue received her from Piper, Pattie curling into her arms like she was an infant again and falling silent except for the occasional sob here or there. Piper and Phoebe watched helplessly, knowing no one but Prue could handle this the correct way. Finally they stood and exited, leaving Prue and Pattie alone. During this time, Pattie used the passing minutes to remember the smell of her mother's perfume, the scent that no doubt was probably sitting in her own bathroom cabinet right now, out of instinct and remembrance. She listened as Prue began to sing softly; the only one, she knew, who was aloud to hear the tender voice that let your cares fly in the wind. It was the same song little Pattie had been humming when Pattie had first appeared in 2000. She nearly jumped when Prue whispered in her ear. "Just between you and me," she assured Pattie, "I'm glad you didn't save me."

A day was only as long as you made it out to be. For Prue, she knew her daughter's time was running out. There was only so much that could be changed without a devastating effect on her own future. They made the minutes pass with meaning. She and Pattie walked hand and in hand now in the same park where Phoebe had learned what would become of Prue. It was bright and sunny now with toddlers at play, swiveling down the slides or gliding back and forth on the swings with wide smiles on their faces. 

The sounds of a tot's weeping alerted Prue; she'd fallen from a jungle gym and was being coddled by a calm mother tending to her scraped knee. "Reminds me of you," Prue noted, pulling Pattie close to her.

Pattie didn't recall, "Me?"

"When you were about three you were trying the risky task of crossing the monkey bars. Everyone told me what a daredevil you were too, that their own three-year-old stayed far away from anything of that measure but you were determined. I looked away for a second and somehow you slipped and ended up on the ground. I thought you'd broken an arm," Prue told her. "It was the only time you ever let yourself cry over something like that."

It was vaguely familiar to Pattie, sitting among the woodchips holding her arm to her chest and dissolving to tears with Prue doing her best to be of comfort. "I think I _do _remember that."

"You and I have some good memories here though," Prue announced as they passed through the playground and made their way off the course of Golden Gate Park to a large oak tree casting a shadow as it towered over them. The plant sat by a stagnant river surrounded by peace and chirping birds. 

Mother and daughter settled against the bark of the three, soaking up the unspoken love that lingered between them. Pattie rested her head on Prue's shoulder, listening to her steady breathing.

"There are so many things I never realized I missed," Pattie said softly. "Things I didn't think to cherish until they were already gone."

"Like what?" Prue asked, curling a piece of Pattie's chestnut hair around her finger. Pattie looked nearly six now, wrapped up in her arms. A single wish sparked in her mind, the desire for children to never grow up, keeping the same innocence and passion for life. Maybe it would be easier that way.

Raising her eyes to Prue, Pattie had to swallow a lump forming in her throat. Not yet, it was too soon to cry again. "Little things," she explained. "The soothing tone in your voice when I needed a little reassurance or the way you were always in the kitchen with coffee when I woke up every morning. The way that, even though you hated it, you bit your tongue and sat through endless hours of beauty parlor as I styled your hair or would wear the bracelet of plastic beads I'd made in preschool. It's the things a mother does, and when I see girls with their own now, I feel empty."

"Well first of all, I do not hate doing anything of the sort," she reminded Pattie, ruffling her hair. "You are my baby girl, my Ladybug, and if you're happy then I am too. It's a mother's code," Prue laughed.

"Ladybug," Pattie repeated. She'd forgotten that, a nickname she'd thrived off of. Phoebe had begun calling her oldest daughter Kyra that; Kyra for the Seer who had shown Phoebe her future with this little girl. For some reason she'd never accepted of Phoebe using that nickname and had thrown a fit when it'd first been spoken. It'd slipped her mind why, it seemed a lot of things concerning Prue left her memory over the years. "I miss that."

Prue smiled, "You don't let your aunts call you that, huh?"

"I can't, I don't think I ever could after you were gone, it was too hard, and then I forgot about it over time," she admitted bashfully. But Prue didn't mind, some things were better left lost. Following that, silence prevailed until Prue worked up the nerve to ask Pattie the main thing on her mind. "Mom?" she queried shakily, "Why do you want to die?"

It had been kept from Piper and Phoebe, that piece of truth Prue had uttered a few hours earlier. Pattie had done all she could to push it far from her curiosity but without any luck. 

"Sweetie," Prue sighed, "I don't." She stopped Pattie before she had even a chance to interrupt, "And I know that though you can't admit it to yourself, but you and I both realize the truth. My life has to end in order for the balance to remain the way it is. I can accept that," she forced the words out painfully. Truth was, she could, but it would take some getting used to.

"Well, I can't!" Pattie threw her arms up in frustration but Prue settled her down again.

"Some things can't be altered, no matter how unfair."

"But I wanted you back so much," Pattie cried. "All I had to do was read the spell. Four lines, that's it, but I couldn't finish it, and then I had to watch you die all over again!" Prue's arms tightened around her fragile body, but it didn't ease the grief. 

She shushed Pattie to no avail, giving her time to cope before continuing. "I know you tried, baby and the fact that you did is sweet, knowing I'm special enough to mess up who knows what to bring me back. But that you could manage to sacrifice your own desires for what you know is right, that's pure heroism. You don't believe it now, but I know this is the way things are supposed to be. I'm not scared and you shouldn't be either."

"I'm tired of living without you," Pattie moaned, heartbroken. "It's all my fault anyway."

"Destiny isn't your fault," Prue assured her, "And you will never be without me."

Pattie's heart actually warmed to hear that. "I don't doubt that in some way," she giggled, smiling for one of the first times that day. "God, I miss you so much. I went through so much to stop it and then I couldn't." She shivered. "I don't deserve you."

Prue wiped a tear from her eyes, still cherry red. "How could you ever think that?"

"You were saving me when you died," Pattie admitted. "When you pushed me out of the way, he—" 

Prue stopped her there, "Ssh, it's all right. I don't think I want to know how I go, sweetheart. Not when, how, or by who, just in case I try to stop it." She saw Pattie's distant gaze and rubbed her shoulder. "Listen to me. No matter what you may have tricked yourself into believing, there is no chance that any of this is of your blame. I love you, I'd save you for anything, that includes my life. And I'm the boss of you, so what I say goes, got it?"

"But—," Pattie tried with no success.

"I mean it. Don't argue with me, or I'll send you to your room," she remarked playfully. And Pattie nodded. For some time they shared memories, Pattie learned more and more that brought her closer to Prue, little tidbits and secrets she'd always wondered about but never had the courage to ask her aunts.

Pattie was pulling the petals off of a flower as she explained, "They don't talk about you as much as they used to, especially on certain days. Aunt Phoebe will if I ask her, Aunt Piper just kind of keeps quiet."

"Don't blame them for that. They're just not sure how to handle it," Prue promised her, "sometimes it's harder not to talk about it though. So I want you to be my messenger and make sure they know that. Deal?"

Pattie laughed when they shook hands to seal the agreement. "Yeah."

"So," Prue ventured. "Who's this Paige person you're not telling me about?" Off of Pattie's fearful eyes, she quickly continued to relieve her worries, "I heard you talking about it when I went to get to your breakfast. Eavesdropping is a family trait, Pattie." Just as Pattie was about to reply with what she'd said to her aunts that morning, Prue reminded her, "The truth, and not some whole friend nonsense." Pattie rolled her eyes, her mother really did know her way too well.

Inhaling deeply, Pattie spoke. "Grandma and Sam had a baby when you were like, six or seven."

"Oh, god," Prue replied, fitting the pieces together. "She's my sister?"

"Half-sister," Pattie gulped. "But yeah."

She wasn't sure what she expected from her mom, but it wasn't what she got. "And she never told us about her? She just let my baby sister live with people we don't know and grow up without us?" Prue cried, upset.

"Wait, mom," Pattie tried to fix her mistake. She'd told this story wrong. "There's a lot you don't know." Pattie told Prue every little detail. That Patty and Sam had given her to a church to shield her from magical consequences, how she'd been lured to the family following Aunt Piper's spell to call a lost witch, their denial at accepting her and then inability to live without her. "I love her," she told Prue. "Just like I love Aunt Piper and Aunt Phoebe."

Prue understood, "Without my death, you would never have known her."

"I tried to go to the Social Services clinic where she works now. I pretended to be some foster kid and tried to tempt her into finding us so I could save you and still have her but then when I was reading the spell I thought about it and…God she's so much like you. What if she kept telling herself that it wasn't right to look for us and that we didn't want her? What if it changed _everything_? I could end up losing you no matter what and not have her either."

"You did the right thing," Prue said finally as she considered everything. "I'd choose her over myself any day."

"You don't even know her," Pattie countered.

"She's my sister." Prue knew she'd do the same for Piper or Phoebe. "So that doesn't matter."

Pattie fidgeted a bit, "You won't tell Aunt Piper or Aunt Phoebe, will you?"

"Of course not," Prue guaranteed. They both fell silent to the point where Prue was sure Pattie had let herself fall asleep. Running over every moment since Pattie had first tripped down their porch steps into her arms, Prue remembered how strong she had made an endeavor to be at first. A teenager, pushing away any comfort until that one nightmare which now, Prue realized, was probably about her passing in the first place. One by one truths had slipped and so had Pattie's defenses. She was just a vulnerable child hiding behind a shield of pain.

When Prue finally pulled herself from her thoughts, she glanced down to see that Pattie was, in fact, in a deep slumber. She looked so young and peaceful like this, Prue didn't want to break that by waking her.

"Come on, Patricia," she whispered quietly shaking her and expecting Pattie to stir. "We've got to get you home." Pattie's eyes fluttered open, but she didn't move. "Back to your time, missy."

"No," Pattie mumbled.

"Yes," Prue tried to pull her up.

"No!" Pattie yelled back, fighting Prue away and jumping to her feet as the blurriness from waking up passed. She couldn't quite grasp why she was pulling from Prue now after everything but something about the word 'home' made her want to run. She wasn't ready to leave now, not after all this.

Pattie stumbled down the grassy hill towards the river, hopping over it and soaking her shoes. She'd been running ever since she got her, somehow it was the only thing on her mind now. When Pattie slipped on a patch of wet leaves that had cluttered from early autumn, she felt a pair of hands reaching out to catch her as they stopped her head from whacking against a mess of rocks.

Whipping her head around and ready to yell at Prue, Pattie was shocked to see the person whose arms she was in. "Paige!" she cried, trying to remain steady as the woman stared at her, confused.

"You…know my name?" she asked, helping Pattie to sit herself on a rock adjacent to where she'd been.

"I'm the girl from the clinic, remember? You…told me your name," Pattie lied. 

Paige settled back on a boulder, keeping a curious eye on the girl who she'd already bumped into once that day. Twice was never a coincidence, as she'd convinced herself. There was always a reason, so Paige knew she had to go along for the ride until she found out why they'd been pushed together a second time.

Pattie was wondering how Prue could manage to lose her, but navigating her own way through this part of the park was a pain. She thought about Prue, the features of her face and the feeling of her presence.

It hurt like hell to think.

"What are you doing here?" Pattie wondered, splashing her water-laden sneakers in a puddle of river water. 

"Well, I'm taking my lunch break in a place I like to come to think, and I'm sitting here with someone who obviously needs to confide in another person." A place to think. Pattie remembered now, she knew this place for a reason; she'd been heading here simply because it was where Paige brought her when she wasn't in the mood to be anywhere else. Sheltered from society with streams of sunlight filtering in through the tree branches, it was quiet.

Didn't her mother come here to think sometimes too? Is that why it was always especially familiar?

"I don't want to go home," Pattie said softly, not crying but with a scratchy voice.

"Why not?" Paige couldn't understand that home was actually further than a few blocks. It was a lifetime away with many changes in between. She jumped to a bad conclusion, a sad result of her job. "Is your family hurting you?" 

Pattie held her hands up automatically, deflecting that comment. "God, no!" She saw Paige relax a little and made up a story which was partially true, partially fiction. "I just, sometimes I guess I miss my parents too much and then I spend a day with them at mind, doing things I used to do with them and it's hard to go back to being alone."

That warm embrace came back to her, the feeling of Paige holding her brimming with empathy. 

It completed her.

"It's totally normal," Paige said, "to feel that way. You are never alone; I think I've come to know that that person is always with you in some way, sometimes you just have to look harder to find them."

Pattie had needed this, she figured. It was just like Paige to come around in the most unexpected of ways and say the one thing she needed to hear. On many different levels, she knew it would always be painful. But Pattie also realized that there would be days of relinquishment, where she could handle it. There'd been more of those then the worse ones more recently. Paige had told her that would happen.

A lot of things Paige had said before were starting to make sense now.

She let herself become entranced by Paige's comfort if only for a minute, as the woman continued to speak to her, still without clue of her real identity. "You can't block your family out. Let them help you. Tell them what's on your mind. If you keep telling them nothing is wrong they are going to believe you. Trust me."

"All right," Pattie agreed, reluctantly freeing herself from Paige's hug. "Thanks."

"If you ever need anything," Paige called after her and Pattie headed back towards her mother. "I come here every day during lunch." Pattie turned around and gave her one last smile of appreciation and as she leapt back over the river, she bumped into Prue, watching from between two tree branches.

Pattie jumped. "Mom!"

"That's her," Prue ignored her, looking on intently as Paige flipped through the pages of a novel she'd been reading. "That's my sister…your aunt, isn't it?" Pattie nodded. "I see the resemblance. It's clearly there." Pattie thought for sure that Prue would, in that moment, defy every rule to march right over there and present herself to Paige without so much as an explanation but the sense of reality kicked in and Prue didn't. She grabbed Pattie's hand, guiding her in the other direction. "Come on."

Pattie didn't argue this time. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, sweetie. I understand. If I were in your shoes, I can't say I'd have wanted to go home either," she confided in her daughter. Reading Pattie's mind, Prue quickly explained the situation. "I didn't interrupt you when I found you with Paige because from first glance I knew who she was. You needed her, there was no stopping that." Prue felt her eyes sting from her own tears, and trying to quell them, laughed. "Halliwells always show up when you need them, don't they?"

"You did," Pattie answered, her head still turned and looking in Paige's direction.

"Of course I did," Prue said in a mock of superiority. "Was there ever a moment's doubt?" 

"Not really," Pattie admitted. "I swear sometimes I think I can hear your voice guiding me."

"I wouldn't leave you to sink or swim if you weren't ready yet." Prue kissed the top of her head. "Are you ready now?" she inquired, in reference towards getting her out of their time.

"I don't know if I'll ever be completely ready," Pattie confessed. "But yeah."

"Then let's do it," Prue squeezed Pattie's hand reassuringly. "We'll get you home, I promise." With that, they left the park, trying to stir up some conversation. The Manor was blocks away on the other side of town and though the walk wasn't entirely long, it was awkward, especially for Pattie. Soon, she knew she'd be back in her own time with things to explain. But moreover, she needed to tell her aunts she loved them if only that. She'd been changed by this already more than Pattie had discovered, she was truly valuing the people in her life who she loved and the time they spent together. 

Time was tricky; it played the strangest of games with her heart and her head.

By the time they climbed the steps to the Victorian Manor, they'd been silent for at least 10 minutes, wrapped up in their own thoughts. "Piper, Phoebe?" Prue called upon entering the household.

There wasn't a sign of them. Prue placed her coat on the wrack and made sure she'd locked the front door. It provided her with some measure of comfort, even knowing that demons didn't usually care if a door was obstructing their path, they were coming in anyway. Pattie stared at the door; the same one Shax would blow through in the impending months. It took a minute to fix her eyes on something else as a distraction.

"Piper, Phoebe, where are you?" Prue yelled again, this time louder.

The voice played in Pattie's mind from that dreadful day. _"Phoebe, where are you?" _So familiar. But she had an idea of where her aunts were hiding themselves, why they weren't hearing her. "Attic," she proclaimed.

Sure enough, both Piper and Phoebe were flipping furiously through the book when they entered. When Prue dropped her bag on an oak chair, they looked up, startled. "You didn't hear me calling you?" Prue asked.

"Honestly didn't," Piper admitted.

"That would have been good if, say, a demon attacked," Prue replied sarcastically.

Piper and Phoebe both glared at her and Pattie, again, rolled her eyes. She found the sisterly banter to be funny, but sometimes it wasn't the time. Plopping down on the antique couch and resting her head on one of the pillows, she watched them exchanged cynical comments for a minute.

Then, she intervened, "So what have we got?"

All three stopped and stared at her, thankful for the mediation of the argument. Phoebe brushed by another few pages, frustrated. "What we've got is no probable plan to get you home," she scowled miserably. "I mean, I figured the power of three would be strong enough but I don't know. The time travel page doesn't give us a spell because we already used it, and it says it takes an enormous amount of harnessed power to move a witch back through time. Frankly, I'm surprised magic brought you here to begin with."

"I guess it's because I'm a next generation witch," Pattie presumed. "It means more power, but still, all the time travel books I've read at magic school say the same thing. It takes more power to back from someplace than it does to get there." Phoebe joined her on the couch, feeling terrible she hadn't made a good conclusion. She placed on hand on both of Pattie's as the teenager sighed. "I really didn't think any of this could have happened."

"It's not your fault," Phoebe told her, putting a small curl of hair behind Pattie's ear, such a motherly move.

"You're sure you don't have any idea of some future spell or potion that can work with affecting time?" Piper pushed, shutting the book, feeling hopeless.

Pattie shrugged at first, but a minute later her eyes lit up. Something about Piper's words and the context of them sparked an idea. Surrounded by curious eyes, Pattie stood and found the five blue and white candles that had been her savior the night prior, arranging them in a circle in front of the Book of Shadows. Then with a lighter she struck the wick of the candle and there flickered one burning flame at a time until there were five of them dancing freely. By this point Pattie didn't need a spell, she held it in her memory.

_Hear these words, hear my cry_

_Spirits from the other side_

_Come to me, I summon thee_

_Cross now, the great divide_

A burst of wind but nothing happened at first. It seemed like nothing would. Pattie tapped the side of her leg with her fingers, anxiously. "Come on guys, I need you now," she muttered, looking up at the heavens. 

Finally there came the two equivalent sets of white lights strung together and twisting their way to the floor. It took a minute for the glowing spheres to settle and dissolve but the transparent ghosts of Patty and Penny were finally at her front. Pattie smiled; firmly relieved her calls had been answered.

"Well, look who it is. Back for more advice are we?" Penny laughed the echo of it catching on as Pattie did too. "I see you've returned from a certain future you were trying to fix, have you not?"

Pattie covered her mouth, stifling her shocked gasp. "You knew about that?"

"Oh dear of course we did," Penny waved a hand at her as if their eavesdropping were nothing, which it really wasn't in the ghostly world. "We see everything, at our discretion anyway." Pattie groaned.

"So you didn't think to stop me?" Pattie asked.

Patty stepped out of the circle, making her voice heard for the first time since her summoning. She sat Pattie back down on the couch beside Phoebe who had her jaw dropped in shock by her mother's presence. "Now, Patricia, do you honestly think that if we'd brought ourselves back down here it would have made any difference towards your actions?" she queried, raising her eyebrows and awaiting a serious answer.

"Probably not," Pattie disclosed. 

"I didn't think so," Patty winked at her. "But hey, you learned your lesson from the mistake. Everyone makes them, even though sometimes they come with the hardships," she gently planted a small kiss on Pattie's forehead.

Penny followed Patty by becoming a physical being as well, receiving welcoming hugs from her granddaughters. Then Patty did the same, happy to see her daughters no matter what the condition. "So dear," Penny asked, facing her great-granddaughter. "How may we be of service?" It was a question that created inquiry in all of them, especially Prue. 

"You," Pattie began, "Are going to get me home. All of you."

**Ah! I'm sorry this took so long. It wasn't supposed to but I had a busy week so it got pushed into the back. Thanks for your reviews guys, I don't normally get them more than a few days after I post so when I was getting them days later it was a special treat. So are you curious to know how she's going to get home? Next chapter is especially great. But what did you think of this one? You're going to review and tell me, right? I will try very hard to have this up as soon as possible. I promise!**

**Until next chapter, keep up the amazing support you're providing, it makes me happy!**

**Megan**


	11. 10: She's Daddy's Little Girl Again

**A/N: This is a shorter chapter and wasn't originally going to be apart of the story but I got to thinking and I realized something…or someone very important from this story was missing. So here they are, another sweet little fluff scene chapter. Hope you're enjoying this! Read away!**

_Black soul and fiery eyes_

_A creature that I such despise_

_With the end of this spell _

_I send this demon straight to hell_

Just as she lost her grip and plunged an athamae deep into the flesh of a lower level demon, Pattie tumbled backwards over the banister. The words were a finishing touch just in case the athamae didn't do the trick; a spell from memory that always worked as a last resort. After all, desperate times called for desperate measures, didn't they? She hit the ground with a thud as the demon threw his hands high above his head, cursing up a storm and swearing revenge on her as he was cloaked in bright red and orange flames. They burned to Pattie's satisfaction as he growled and squirmed, fighting to free himself of an obvious peril. Finally he let a scream that made Pattie cover her ears to avoid going deaf as the demon finally succumbed to the agony of the flames.

Thankful that she'd only been on the first level of the staircase before the demon had used his last bit of power to whip her backwards, Pattie rubbed her aching head and began to push herself when her entire family came charging down the stairs. Piper noticed Pattie sprawled out on the floor immediately.

"Oh god, what happened? A demon?" she asked fearfully, inspecting her niece for any obvious damage.

"Came out of no where," Pattie moaned as Phoebe gave her a hand and helped her stand up. Besides a few bruises she was virtually unharmed, a blessing. "But I got him," she wrapped herself in Phoebe's arms, comforted.

"Of course you did," Penny egged her on proudly. "That's what we witches do."

Pattie rolled her eyes, "He didn't recognize me, so don't be surprised if the underworld is simmering with news that there's a new witch in town," she declared, beaming with pride. "And I did it all without my powers, which wasn't easy. I had to rely on good old inner strength." It had been a difficult encounter without powers to be dependent on; he'd found her in the kitchen while she'd been preparing herself some toast, a quick meal because every witch knew you didn't time travel on an empty stomach. After using some furniture and minor objects as shields and fighting him off, she'd gone after the athamae the creature threw at her which had stuck in the wall, parallel to the first that had landed there, the day prior. It had ended with his death, fortunately.

Relieved to see that Pattie was mainly unharmed, the Halliwell women went back to what they did best; waiting. Penny and Patty climbed the stairs slowly with Phoebe by their side but Piper hung back for a second, examining the damage.

"Yeah, sorry if I cost you a little bit _more _money due to my lack of magical ability," Pattie said as she noticed the burnt materials, some smoking and others completely non-restorable. 

Piper grabbed a handful of a cotton blanket off the head of a couch, the fabric hot and smoldered in her hands. "Don't worry about it, we leave the inexpensive items out here for a reason, remember?" Pattie nodded, laughing. "You said you did this without your powers, right?" Another nod. "Wow, next generation really is power."

Pattie replied with an uncomfortable smile, "Sometimes it gets me in trouble. Like now."

"I'm sorry if I'm prying, but what _are _your powers anyway?" Piper inquired, finishing her overview and heading back towards the stairs, but Pattie flashed her a warning look. "Oh, possibly future-changing information, huh? I can't know because it'll affect my future too?"

"Sorry," Pattie apologized. Truth was, she wasn't in the mood to explain her powers. Telekinesis, astral projection, and cyrokinises (the ability to blow ice from her mouth recovered from her mother's past life) were the ones Piper knew by this point in her life, but invisibility and deflection had still yet to develop. Going in to that would lead to more talk about next generation and then, Pattie realized, talk about Leo and children. That could be troublesome, bringing them up, so Pattie backed away from it. Piper shrugged and headed up the stairs. 

By now they had learned not to push it with Pattie, if she didn't want to talk, she wouldn't.

Pattie watched her go, her eyes following Piper up the stairs before following her entirely.

When they had reached the hallway of the second floor, Pattie made a detour route, turning into her younger self's bedroom and shutting the door behind her. Pattie's family wouldn't bother her if she was alone; she'd be sensitive enough the entire time she'd been in 2000. Pattie just needed one moment by herself.

The harsh reality of the demon attack had hit her. She hated them; she hated always having to look over her shoulder and waiting for the moment where a demon would take something else away.

A couple steps higher on the stairs and it could have been her.

There was still time before Prue would be back with what was missing and Leo was on his way as soon as he was free of his charge. She needed them to be there before she explained what her plan was. It was a requirement.

Pattie approached the mirror hanging above her dresser and noticed the medium sized teddy bear sitting on the corner with its furry arms holding a picture frame coated in shells. Inside the frame was a sterling picture of the perfect family. Three figures, Prue and Andy with a tiny Pattie, one of each of their arms wrapped securely around her waist. Pattie, her hair pulled into tight braids and cascading down either shoulder was their center with her hands clasped together and her shoulders raised, showing off a perky five-year-old smile with the same bear rested comfortably between her arms. There were three wide smiles on each of their faces, as if the world could never touch them. Her eyes swelled with intense grief, blinking back tears. Placing her hands on the bear's head and rubbing it, Pattie closed her eyes. "Daddy," she whimpered.

"Right here, baby."

Immediately Pattie's eyes snapped open and she turned around to see the ghost of her father standing in _her _room and talking to _her. _He stood tall as he always had with the genial smile, waiting for her.

Pattie rubbed her eyes, smudging her makeup and thinking they were deceiving her. When the picture of Andy didn't faze, not after a minute had passed and he was still standing there clear as a bell awaiting her next move, Pattie realized that this wasn't some cruel joke. He was really there. "Daddy!" she yelped, throwing herself into his loving arms and kissing him.

Andy held tight to the little girl he thought he'd never share words with again. "My precious daughter."

"Are you really here and not just my imagination?" she queried, her heart pounding.

"Of course I am. I knew you needed me, so the Elders allowed me to come as a bit of salvation for you. As one last effort to help you get home, to guide you to where you need to be."

"For a person who was never too into magic, you sound like some sort of prophet dad," Pattie pointed out, her lips curving into a smile. "Looks like the heavens have done you well," she noted approvingly.

Andy grasped the shoulders of his only daughter and held her out in front of him. He took in her features, each one mirroring Pattie's mothers and Andy's only true love. She looked so beautiful to him, so mature and grown up and he kicked himself for not being around to witness it, although he had been the key in saving her life. He and Prue had created this, their little miracle, and she was beautiful, she was an angel.

"In all my life, I never thought I'd be responsible for something so cherished, so beautiful," he ran a hand down her cheek, but Pattie was too stunned to do anything but stare at the man she hadn't seen in over nine years.

Then, she began to cry.

"Oh, great," she mumbled despondently. "Here, I go again." Andy led her to the bed and sat with his arm placed firmly on her shoulder. "Daddy, I hate these demons, I hate them. They took you away, Mom, everything. I thought being back here might have been a gift, but it was just a reminder of what magic does to family, to lives. It makes everything I love disappear." Since the Ultimate Battle nearly two years ago, demons had been sparse in Pattie's world. They often went months before an unexpected attack and they were usually meager low-level demons who were easy kills; Pattie had nearly forgotten how much evil demons actually harnessed.

Andy didn't know what to say. He didn't live with magic; he didn't know how much it had and would affect his daughter for the rest of her life as she knew it.

Pattie sniffled, "It makes it harder to go back to the future, knowing all I've lost and just keep going like it didn't happen. Why does life have to be so difficult and why do I have to do it alone? I want to go back but…it's hard."

Again, Andy was at a loss for words.

He soothed her by gently kissing her forehead, picking and choosing the right words that would hopefully be of come consolation to her. "I know I don't have much of a clue what your future holds for you, but you need to go back to it because it's yours. You belong there, just like I have to go back to heaven and watch you from afar, because that's my job. We don't have to like it, but some people choose to savor every happy moment they can find and focus on the positive they've got. From what I can see, you've got your health, those beautiful eyes, that radiant smile, and up there is that family who will stand by your side through it all.

"You're not alone, Pattie, even when you think you are. I'm sure your family has grown by 2008 and there are many people relying on you to come home. Your mother and I are always going to be with you, supporting you, inspiring you. You don't ever have to worry about that

"Your life is special, Pattie. You can do things a million other people wish they could, even if it comes with flaws. Just like I did, you save lives."

Andy crossed the room and grabbed the frame and the bear Pattie had been admiring. He handed them both to her, watching the frown quickly morph into a smile as she cuddled the bear to her chest and gazed as the picture, the memory. 

"You were five; it was right after I had come back into your lives. She must have told you who I was because you stuck to me like glue, so I treated you two to a day on the boardwalk. All three of us had the best time, especially when I won that bear for you. It was the only thing you wanted the entire day, you called it Andy too."

"For you," Pattie reminisced. The bear was white as snow, it's powder colored fur still soft and new. It's eyes connected with Pattie, the only of two stuffed animals she'd refused to part with. It still slept on her bed beside the stuffed dog her mother had given her as an infant. "You played at least 20 games before those bottles finally knocked over," she laughed softly remembering the trick of the glass bottles on the boardwalk.

"And then I told you about the trick of the boardwalk and how they messed with the supplies to make it harder and to never fall for it," Andy explained, falling into his own memory. It'd been one of the best days of his life, even if he hadn't actually known the importance of the two people he was spending it with. 

Pattie rested her head on that of the bear's, smiling despite her distress. "Yeah, you said to just get ice cream instead because they couldn't screw with something as good as ice cream. So we did," Pattie managed a laugh, "and then Mom yelled at you for spoiling my dinner and said you were a bigger little kid than me." She stared straight into the darkness of the fur, absentminded. "I remember that." Andy removed the photo from Pattie's limp hand and stared fondly at it. In some selfish way, he was glad he'd be meeting her again, his other half, his best friend from the time they were toddlers.

She was his perfect match, realized too late.

"Daddy?" Pattie asked in the timid voice a child, picking her heavy head up. It was clogged from all of her crying, and with every tear and added stress it hurt more. "You'll take care of her, won't you?" she questioned quietly. "When Mom comes to you you'll find her and make sure she's okay, and she's happy?" Another beat of silence. "Right, daddy?"

It nearly made Andy smile in the way she'd grown accustomed to calling Prue, 'Mom' but still called him 'Daddy'. To him, 'Daddy' was a compliment, a name of something he never thought he'd accomplish. It was sweet.

"Without a doubt sweetheart, without a doubt."

She hugged him again, realizing their time was running low and Andy needed to return where he belonged. He was another person she'd lost the time to know, but now Pattie was prepared to go back to her own time and use the phone number Elizabeth Truddeau had given her when she was young right after Andy's passing. It had been given to her in case Pattie ever wanted to know anything at all about the other side of her family…Andy.

"If you ever need me, just remember where to find me. It's like that song from Lonestar, _I'm Already There. _Just think of that, or maybe a spell will do the trick, I'm not really hip with magic," he kidded, nudging her. Pattie chuckled, kissing Andy one last time on the cheek. "And if you need the support of anything to get you back home," Andy pointed to the little girl in the picture, little Pattie, "Just count on her. All you need is—"

"Elizabeth!" 

Little Pattie finished the sentence for him, obviously arriving home with Prue in tow. Pattie looked to her left, Andy was gone, the picture lying next to her on the bed. She felt a chill of wind rush over her. Andy.

"I love you, daddy," she whispered lovingly.

Pattie left the room in tact and headed back towards the stairway, finding little Pattie coming her way. Another shriek. "Elizabeth!' The shrill cry came with the pounding of tiny feet up the wooden staircase. Little Pattie held her arms out, running straight to Pattie. "You're still here!" she yell excitedly, flinging her tiny arms around Pattie's neck.

Pattie's face brightened with a gracious smile. "Of course, you think I'd leave without saying goodbye?"

"I was afraid I'd miss you," she admitted sadly, head hung low for only a brief moment before the grin reappeared. "But you're still here!"

Prue had quickly retrieved little Pattie from Emily's at Pattie's request. She wasn't exactly sure what Pattie's plan was, but if she had learned anything by now, it was that her daughter worked in mysterious ways and kept her ideas quiet until she was sure they were full-proof. 

Little Pattie had grown especially fond of her elder self In the small time they'd been acquainted Pattie wondered if she was actually enlightened with the situation that was occurring; if her younger self knew Pattie's true identity. That's when she caught little Pattie staring at her and the exposed birthmark on her wrist, which she rested on her knees. Then she looked at her own knowingly. 

Caught red-handed. She knew now.

Prue brought both of her daughters up the stairs where little Pattie greeted her family with excitement. It wasn't often the ghosts of the afterlife would come back to visit; she knew this was special. When the enthusiasm died down, as they were still waiting for Leo, Pattie learned toward her past self, summoning her close. "You know who I _really _am, don't you smarty-pants?" She watched Pattie shrink back, her cheeks swelling with color. Guilty. She whispered again, as her family looked on, waiting, "It's okay, mommy and our aunts know now. Everyone knows. You figured it out first though and kept it a secret; we're pretty smart aren't we?"

The younger had a mischievous grin from ear to ear. She lifted a hand, placing it under a lock of Pattie's think hair and letting her fingers smoothly glide down it, admirably. "I'm pretty," she giggled.

_What to make of that? _Pattie thought quietly. _A compliment of or a sign that I'm a bit self obsessed?_

She laughed at her own joke and trying to be like the older, little Pattie laughed too. Now Prue came up behind her and kneeled behind her, grasping both of her tiny hands. "What do you think?" she inquired, a glimmer of esteem sparkling in her icy blue eyes. Pattie had withstood so much. "Do you approve?"

"A," little Pattie announced for all to hear. They laughed.

"You will always be my beautiful, sweet, baby," she promised, sounding like Andy now. They really were part of a package. Maybe that comforted Pattie, the fact that they'd be together soon. At least something made sense. Little Pattie fell backwards, folding into Prue's arms. "No matter how old you get you will be my baby, even if I'm not around to tell you." The remark stung everyone else who knew, but again flew over little Pattie's head.

Leo finally orbed into the middle of the attic, he was greeted happily by little Pattie. She made every situation lighter and less dramatic, it was a nice chance. It was the same with Wyatt in her own time. After Piper welcomed him with a kiss he turned to the elder version of his niece and they shared a mutual smile.

Now they were a family together; a semblance of normalcy.

"So everyone is here now," Piper concluded. "How is this going to work?"

"It's going to take everyone and all the point we've got," Pattie declared to the confused faces around her. "Just like the Ultimate Battle. Four generations of Halliwells, one massive load of power."

**Not too many reviews for the last chapter. Am I getting rusty? Please reassure me! The next chapter should be up soon. There are 3 left and the epilogue. And I know the Ultimate Battle was three generations to save the sisters but remember, I've changed some things. I'm hoping to have it up over the weekend but there's a lot going on so I'm not sure.**

**Keep reading!**

**Megan**


	12. 11: A Time To Return

**Ah! I'm so sorry this took over two weeks to get to you. I'm in no way abandoning this story, I've just been and will be so busy the over the next few weeks. I tried so hard to make it good, but I got writer's block so if it's crappy I'm terribly sorry! Just read on, and grab a few tissues while you're at it. Enjoy!**

Prue stared at her. "Four generations? You think that'll do it?

"Of course it will!" Pattie exclaimed, tossing her hands throughout the air for emphasis. She knew from experience that the Halliwell line harnessed a great deal of magical energy, which improved by each generation. Penny alone was powerful enough, but add those who succeeded her into the mix and you had the recipe for one ass-kicking spell. During the Ultimate Battle, Piper had needed a way to put a very dangerous magical substance called "the hollow" back into captivity so it wouldn't cause mass destruction and kill Phoebe and Paige, like it had the first time around. She'd enlisted the combined power of Penny, Patty, herself, and Pattie and it had done exactly what had been called for. Pattie was sure the same thing could work now; she and her family could outwit the tricky process of time travel with a few words by the Halliwell women.

"So you're proposing we, what? Say a spell, all of us, and it will transport you back to where you need to be?" Penny questioned, cuddling her great-granddaughter on her lap. Then, a sly smile appeared. "I like it."

Patty folded her hands in her lap, "I've never heard of anything like that, it's always been the power of three, much less three generations," she considered. "What is this about an Ultimate Battle?"

Pattie frowned. She had blurted her idea out so quickly that she hadn't noticed that any word of the Ultimate Battle had been included in her spiel until after it'd been said. Following that, she'd hoped they would have dismissed the minor comment and focus on the task at hand, but ultimately Pattie _did _know better. Nothing got past them. "It's just…something I can't talk about for risk of messing up the future. "

Prue wrapped her arms around her child, "Ah, throwing our words back in our face, so very devious of you."

"So very 'Halliwell' of you," little Pattie added, and everyone laughed.

"Well," Phoebe countered, pacing across the floor and over to the book, delicately skimming through the pages. "It makes sense, what you're saying. I mean after all, when we went back to 1975 it took the Power of Three to get us home, and magic grows with time so why _not _four generations?"

"If three is the magic number, four must be something like…the apocalypse," Piper guessed.

Leo chimed in, talking specifically to Pattie over everyone else. "You've got the right concept. The Elders didn't release any information to me about this. All they said was you wouldn't have to figure it out yourself, but that it lied in family."

"How did you get so smart?" Phoebe asked jokingly.

"I had great teachers," Pattie replied, smiling at her three aunts. Her smiled instantly faded when a demon shimmered into the attic, alerting all eight of the family members. He hurled a fireball Pattie's way and she dove for cover behind a pile of boxes. It missed her, crashing into a portrait of some long ago ancestor whose name she didn't even know. "Aunt Phoebe!" she screamed, when another shimmered in behind her with an athamae. Demons didn't usually carry an athamae, so Pattie was especially confused, but Phoebe thrust her leg behind her and nailed the demon in the stomach. When he doubled over, she lunged for the knife, nearly grabbing it before he recovered.

As he got a hold of Phoebe's wrist, stopping her from retrieving the weapon, the demon reached for it himself, just before little Pattie got over her initial shock to move it from within his reach.

"Not so fast," she taunted. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to share your weapons?"

Phoebe fought him off as he released an energy ball at the little girl, who was distracted and almost caught the brunt of it. Thankfully, it was taken off course and hit the ceiling, bouncing off of it and giving Pattie a free moment to jump away. "You think you're such a powerful little _witch,_" he sneered.

"Yes," the little one replied, blasting the demon with the cyrokinises she was barely getting used to. "I do." He was knocked over and incapacitated long enough for Phoebe to use her martial arts and render him unconscious. Pattie picked up the athamae now, and looked to Phoebe for approval. "May I?"

Phoebe was amused by her niece's newfound strength. "Feel free."

She released the athamae, which landed square in his chest as fire proceeded to erupt and slowly kill him. The familiar screams of torment rose, and then he exploded.

Meanwhile, Piper and Prue had their hands full with the other demon who preferred fireballs over weapons. He yanked Piper backwards against the antique couch and was moving so fast she was too dizzy and slow to freeze him. Pattie turned to witness this now, remembering Piper didn't know about her molecular combustion yet, which would allow her to blow things up. She desperately wished for her own powers.

Across the room she saw Patty and Penny watching helplessly, knowing there wasn't a thing they could do being spirits without powers, she wondered how hard it was for them to leave their little girls to save themselves; Pattie definitely identified with that. She wanted to help, but there wasn't much to do except get in the way.

"Need any help?" Phoebe asked as Pattie handed her the spare athamae. They had no spell so it would have to be the source of the vanquish, as it had been towards most demons lately. Unfortunately, they would have to catch him first.

Piper rolled her head back, which was aching, as Prue helped her up. "What was your first clue?"

The demon saw his free chance and launched another fireball Prue's way. "This time you're mine," he growled snidely, with a cackle of laughter. Prue would realize too late what was coming her way, as her back was turned making an endeavor to aid Piper. If it hit her, she'd be killed immediately from where it was headed.

"Mom! No!" Pattie cried, jumping to her feet and toppling on Prue to push her out of the way of the fireball's path which would have otherwise completely obliterated her. The fireball grazed her side, burning her badly.

Little Pattie screamed as Prue landed with a thud, pushing Pattie down to the ground with her. Phoebe let the athamae go at the demon, but it missed him slightly, crashing down amongst a heap of old storage cases, lost.

Now they were in trouble.

"Leo!" Prue called as Pattie moaned helplessly, clinging to her mother for dear life.

"I wasn't going to let him get you," she sniveled painfully.

Prue kissed her, stroking her hair. Fireball injuries were a rare occasion for the sisters and never in such a bad place. Pattie curled up, holding her abdomen in searing pain; when you were hit by one it was always one of the worst a person could endure because of the burning sensation of the flesh. It made one not care in that moment whether or not they lived. "You're all right, Ssh," she soothed. "Just hold out a few more seconds."

Leo had run out of the room, unseen, during the battle to grab a few potions, not knowing what they might need seeing as the demons were undisclosed. But upon hearing his name he abandoned the task and orbed back in.

Piper, Phoebe, and little Pattie were still fighting the demon when he orbed in a kneeled down by her. Seeing this, it felt threatened, releasing yet another fireball towards them. Leo ducked, and Pattie though she was wounded, saw it coming in Prue's direction. Again, she pushed her backwards and the glowing ball of fire flew over them, but not before coming in contact with Pattie's shoulder.

Another hit, she screamed fiercely.

Looking into the eyes of the demon, she thought of Shax.

"Oh, god," Prue gritted her teeth together. One fireball hit was bad enough, two was pure agony. They weren't usually fatal depending on where they hit, but at the rate it was draining Pattie's strength quicker than she could regain it. "Leo, please, now," she begged.

He didn't need another word, and they scrambled behind the couch for protection as he laid his hands over the worse of the gashes first. The bright healing light shone and the sore seeping with blood quickly decreased until it had reduced to nothing. Pattie let out a deep breath in liberation, but it wasn't enough. Not wasting a second, he reaffirmed her hands over the shoulder wound, repeating the process under the burn was completely gone.

Still weak, Pattie settled into Prue's arms, running her fingers over the spots on her clothing where the marks had been. The power of healing never ceased to amaze her, how one terrible thing could be vanish in the next second. She was stunned at the sudden lack of fear she shown, how it could have easily been Prue.

Maybe that, right there, was why she had come.

Prue kept her fear-stricken child enclosed in her arms, knowing herself how close she'd come to death in that moment, and kicking herself for turning her back on a demon, something she _never _did.

She looked up just over the couch to watch the brawl just in time to see little Pattie deflect a demon's fireball with her telekinesis and send it flying back towards him. This time he had no where to run and they had caught him. When it hit, Piper picked Pattie up to shield her from his fiery eyes and imminent death; she wasn't a fan of having her niece see that if she could. When all was quiet in the attic again, Patty and Penny stepped out from where they'd been watching and Prue helped Pattie stand up.

"Easy, easy," she chided. "Don't overdue it."

"Everyone all right?" Leo asked, although both Prue and Pattie were clearly shaken.

"Mommy! I did it! I vanquished a demon all by myself!" Little Pattie cheered, lifting the intensity a bit, causing a smile for everyone. "Did you see me?"

Pattie left Prue's side and sought comfort from Phoebe while little Pattie was passed from Piper to Prue. "Did I? Of course I did! That's my little girl, right there. I knew you could help your aunts vanquish him," she commended her daughter, wrapping her arms around little Pattie's tiny body. Sometimes it was all the girl needed.

Phoebe looked at Pattie with sympathy. "I saw what you did for her," she noted. "You okay?"

"What were they?" was all Pattie wanted to know, they reminded her so much of Shax.

"I'd like to know that myself," Penny spoke, already moving towards the book.

"Let's find out then," Phoebe decided, as she and Pattie joined Penny. They flipped through the pages of the book until they landed on a page containing a picture of three demons, two of them very similar to those the girls had just vanquished. Surrounded by family, Phoebe read. "Malthus, Zaebos, and Orias. Three workers of the source and more specifically his master assassin, Shax," she began and Pattie sucked in a breath of air. It didn't register to anyone else as Phoebe continued. "The three demons each allies who work together to bring down witches as well as enemy demons. Malthus can take on the form of other objects and has massive strength, Zaebos has the ability to steal both powers and weapons from his opponents and use them to his own strength, and Orias uses fireballs and is extremely swift, which makes him hard to catch. Together they are extremely powerful, but apart are merely lower level and can be vanquished by potions, spells, or their own powers."

"Well, " Piper said, running the information over in her head. "Two of them are dead anyway."

Little Pattie complained, "So now we have to go searching for _another one?_" She hated it profusely when they wrecked her plans and caused more stress. Why did they hold so much control.

But as Pattie stared at the third, Malthus, and his red eyes, she flashed back hours earlier to when she'd been in the kitchen making toast. Somehow, all of the sudden, she remembered pausing at an extra kitchen table chair and thinking it was because of her arrival, but then it had morphed into a demon when she'd least expected it.

That had been Malthus, Pattie realized now. She's originally believed he'd just been another average vanquish with no clue to who she was, but demons got around too. What is possible Shax had sent him for _her_? Did he know what was going on? The house had been bugged by him, just like the demon who'd gotten into Piper's imagination right after Prue's death and almost convinced her to give up their powers. Aware of all this now, Pattie was thoroughly worried. She'd been lucky, they all had. "All _three _are dead," she spoke up. "That's the one I vanquished earlier." She didn't mention Shax for obvious reasons, but thinking she was going to be sick, Pattie retreated from the room.

Shax had probably been planning this all along, this attack, by order of the source. And he would succeed.

"Well, we got them," Prue sighed, relieved, trying to hide her sudden anxiety.

Phoebe wasn't thrown. "Let's just be glad they didn't get you."

Downstairs, Pattie sighed as she sat on the steps leading down to the basement, her arms folded over her knees as a panic attack passed gradually. At some point upon realizing that this in fact _was _her last hour with her mother and then seeing the demon attack Prue, Pattie had lost the ability to breathe. She'd gasped for small puffs of air before reacting to what Pattie began to understand as an anxiety attack, something that had come a lot when demon battles had been frequent and dire situations were at her feet. It hit her hard, so she escaped to the one place that was most often abandoned in the household.

With another loud and deep cough, Pattie forced her heart back into a steady rhythm, but just couldn't manage to stand. Her feet were wobbly like jello and when Pattie made an endeavor to put any weight on them, she collapsed and was back where she'd started.

"Damn," she muttered quietly, staring off into the blackness of her basement. Despite the fact that it was part of the Halliwell Manor, the basement was regularly avoided by just about every family member due to the spiritual nexus inhabiting the room deep in the Earth below the concrete floor. In fact, Phoebe had been possessed not long after they'd received their powers and almost been turned evil, but eventually overcome it. She'd been the only one to ever believe the story of the "woogieman" growing up and was repeatedly teased for it until he had, in fact, been real, if only as an evil source of magic.

In fact, as Pattie thought about it now, she remembered a time now when, before the vanquishing of the woogieman, Pattie had broken one of Prue's favorite collectible glass figures after disobeying her command not to play soccer in the living room. She'd been so angry, Pattie recollected, that she'd given Pattie a time out in the same place Pattie was now, the basement stairs; a major punishment after the stories Phoebe had told her growing up. Pattie had sat there shivering and crying in fear until Phoebe had come along and rescued her, much to Prue's displeasure, but not much later when the woogieman had been discovered, Prue had remembered this incident, and with so much remorse, apologized profusely to Pattie, feeling she nearly sacrificed her daughter to evil.

Pattie looked back on all of it now, the normal time-outs, the fights between Prue and Phoebe when Pattie would pit one against the other, and even the demon battles, as something familiarly identifiable. This was her life, the one before a piece of it had been ripped away. As each memory came flooding back one by one, she wondered how different it would be to go back to this strange future now; would she be able to handle it?

The squeaky voice that only a child could master shook Pattie from her thoughts. "Watcha doing?" Little Pattie asked sweetly, cautiously sitting herself next to Pattie and then wagging a finger at her. "Don't you know the woogieman lives down here? Are you _trying _to become evil?"

"It'd be easier," Pattie mumbled despondently, but with a look at the incredulous gaze in little Pattie's eyes, she quickly took back the statement. "It doesn't really scare me anymore," she admitted honestly.

"Are you going home soon?" the younger one asked, staring up at a perfect picture of herself only a few years. Her mind swirled at the thought of one day being this girl, this strong powerful girl, but she figured there'd be a lot of obstacles in the way of getting there. Still, little Pattie knew it would happen; her older self was living proof of that, as she'd said herself earlier.

Pattie choked out an uncomfortable laugh, "Why, ready to get rid of me?"

"No," was all the little girl replied, she didn't have much else to say. Truth be told, she was at a loss for words for one of the first times in her short life. None of this time travel made sense.

"So…" Pattie began when the silence became too loud to bear. "Why'd you come looking for me?"

"Everyone's being all sad upstairs because of the demon and you leaving and I couldn't take it," little Pattie confessed. "I thought maybe I'd find you and you could cheer me up." Pattie shrugged at the statement, she knew it'd be better if her younger self wasn't worrying over plans such as everyone else, but she didn't have it in her heart to be cheery. "Is the basement in your time any nicer?" she asked just to make conversation.

Pattie didn't shift her gaze. "No." When little Pattie fidgeted for a few minutes, torn between leaving or staying, Pattie finally offered, "I just came down here because I didn't know where else to go to be alone." She stopped little Pattie as she went to stand up. "Don't leave; technically I guess I still am, seeing as you're me and all."

Little Pattie smiled, relieved. Then she queried, "Is it weird to see yourself younger again?"

Pattie shrugged. "What about for you?" She received the same reply.

They spoke for awhile; little Pattie wondering many things about her future but only asking a few here or there, she knew some had to be left untold for her to find out on her own. It was strangely comforting to not know though, there were still some surprises awaiting her, good and bad. Finally, she gathered up the courage to blurt out what was on her mind. "What's it like living without mommy?" she inquired. Pattie shot her a dubious stare. "I'm not stupid," she reinforced the statement. "I know mommy's gonna die. But they'll freak if I know," little Pattie finished, referring to her aunts. Then, she whimpered, "I'm scared."

Uneasily, Pattie grabbed her little self and held her close. Normally, she was on the receiving end so this was new. The child was close to tears, but not ready yet to let them go with the brewing chaos. There was always time for that later. Pattie searched for the right words, but they remained lost.

"I know," she finally replied and then released herself from the hug, looking at little Pattie, "but you know, it helped me grow up a little bit. And sometimes, I'm really okay, because we've got some great aunts."

Little Pattie sniffled, "Oh yeah, you're so okay. Then why'd you come back here?" she interrogated sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

Pattie laughed, pushing her a bit. "Always the jokester, aren't we?" Still, little Pattie stared at her as if waiting for her question to be answered. "It wasn't my choice to come back, sometimes magic does things I don't expect. I just missed mommy a lot because today…well the day in the future, was the anniversary of the day I lost her. I wanted to take my pain away once and for all."

"And did you?" little Pattie kicked her feet on the steps.

"No," Pattie told her truthfully. "I honestly don't think it ever goes away, but this…it helped."

"Then why are you crying now?" the child asked and Pattie noticed that she was, again, tearing up. She was extremely emotional and empathetic to everything, thus many instances had her dissolving to tears. Reaching up to wipe the tears away, she smudged her makeup again and groaned.

Little Pattie watched her. "Eyeliner isn't fun," she tried to laugh at the joke and the little girl smiled softly. "Sometimes crying is the best way to release your pain, even if it's a pain," Pattie explained. Little Pattie nodded and then tilted her head, bringing it to rest on Pattie's shoulder. Between them there were no words but the silences spoke more that was left to be interpreted. It was a strange feeling they shared as one person: that maybe, in time, everything _would _be okay given time.

Both girls jumped when Prue's shaky voice called out fearfully, "Patricia?"

"Yeah?" they answered in unison, turning around simultaneously. When Prue discovered them sitting there, identical, she laughed. The many faces of Pattie. The smaller of the two picked her head up, brushing the bangs from her face and being smart enough to catch on, brought herself to her feet.

"I'll just go see if Aunt Piper and Aunt Phoebe need some help…" she trailed off awkwardly, kissing Prue on the cheek as she shuffled up the stairs and out of sight.

Prue settled herself in the empty spot where little Pattie had been, taking one of her daughter's hands and weaving her fingers through the missing spaces between Pattie's, a perfect fit. It was just having her close that meant something to Pattie, whether or not Prue said anything at all.

"Thank you for saving me, I know that was hard for you," Prue said, but at first Pattie didn't respond.

Finally, she turned her face to Prue, "The demon just kind of reminded me of the one that took you away from me and I just to get out of there. It was all I could think of," she explained slowly, "I keep telling myself that I can be strong and go home, but I just…I don't know." Prue stared at her with eyes brimming with concern. "How do I let myself lose you…again?"

Tucking her daughter under her arm and smoothing her hair, Prue gently replied, "It's never easy, that's what we have family for. See, in your own time, you can tell your aunts everything and they'll probably be a little jealous you got to see me," Pattie smiled, "but they'll understand how difficult it is for you to cope with. Losing your mother, I know it's not easy Pattie. But I will never be completely gone, I promise you that. Even if my after life depends on it you will never be alone, your father and I would never do that to you."

"I wish you could have known Aunt Paige," Pattie said, remembering all the times Paige had wanted to recreate Prue's talent and felt she'd failed. The girl had lived to fill the void but never quite felt she was what her family was looking for. "She's tried so hard to be the person you'd want her to be, just like you."

That alerted Prue. She looked at Pattie carefully. "She wanted to be me?"

"She wanted to be as good as you. Aunt Paige felt pressured to live up to you to make Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Piper happy, but she always thought you'd be mad at her for taking your place in the Power of Three," Pattie explained. Leaning closer to Prue, she added, "I didn't want her around when I first met her because I thought she wanted to replace you, but she promised me that she'd never try to, she never could and never would. It made me see her as her own person, sometimes I just don't know how much Aunt Piper and Aunt Phoebe do. They love her so much, but sometimes I think they unconsciously expect her to be…well, like you."

Prue sighed; she hated to think of this happening between her sisters. Paige deserved the love and bond that she shared with her sisters, not the tremendous stress. "Well then, you'll have to be my messenger, won't you?"

Pattie cocked her head to the side, confused. "How?"

"When you get back, I want you to tell them this, from me. Make sure they know that it's okay, I will always love my baby sister even though I never got to know her and I want her to strive to be herself not me, there's no way I could ever hate her. Be sure Piper and Phoebe know that too, that they need to see Paige for Paige, because part of me is still with them too."

"Destiny just got in the way," the teenager said with her eyes lowering, sadly.

But Prue lifted Pattie's chin, turning her face toward her mother. "Destiny can't break our love or keep us apart. No matter how hard it tries, we're a hell of a lot stronger, you hear me?" She grinned warmly. Pattie nodded, falling into Prue's embrace.

"_You_ need to tell her this," Pattie decided, clinging to Prue. "Tell her yourself, just not directly."

As Prue held Pattie tight, she replied to this, not quite understanding. "How will I do that, sweetie?"

"Go to her, that spot where we were today. She eats lunch there every day. Just introduce yourself, explain all of what's going to happen. She may not believe it at first but when the time comes, everything will make sense."

Prue considered that. In reality, it did make perfect sense, despite what the rules may have been. She agreed to it and Pattie happily obliged to the request for a good time to find Paige. They set up the idea, and Prue thanked her daughter for caring about her family and being the smart child she'd raised. Then she whispered something in Pattie's ear. "I don't want you to ever worry about taking my place like your aunt did. If you grow up like this, with this beauty and grace about you then you'll be doing what I hoped. I just want you to live a full life no matter how long it is. That's what will fulfill mine, that's what will make me happy." Her tender words, so articulate and kindly spoken, brought the tears back, and Pattie pressed closer to Prue, trying to stop weeping but still wiping tears from her eyes. "Can you do that for me?" Prue asked.

She made sure she was staring Pattie in the eyes when she responded softly. "Yes." Then, after a beat, "but how did you ever know?"

"I'm your mother," Prue laughed, "it's my job to know everything."

"But how will I know that everything is right when I get home?" Pattie inquired, curling a strand of hair around her finger, rocking in Prue's arms. She really did feel like a child again.

"I want you to go wherever my stuff is kept and look through the boxes. If everything is right, something will be there, and when you see it, you'll know. Trust me, you'll know." Pattie nodded at her. "I will do everything I can to fix this between your aunts, just trust me. I'll always be with you, even if I have to fight to be. Now come on, let's go upstairs and get you home."

When Prue grabbed her arm to lead her up towards the attic Pattie nearly resisted, but she fell it tug at her heart and let Prue guide her up the stairs. There was no use fighting the inevitable, she had to make the best of the bad situation. By the time they reached the attic, Phoebe had finally recovered the missing spell from the Book of Shadows and they were waiting patiently for her.

Pattie stood there, her hand in her pockets, shrugging her shoulders and attempting a smile. "So…everything's done and ready here?"

"All done," Phoebe confirmed. "We were just talking about…well, you."

Pattie didn't say anything to that. Leo broke the silence. "Everything's set."

"I guess it's time to go home then," Pattie decided. "So…who's going to say goodbye to me first?"

There were no volunteers at first because they'd become attached to their little girl being so grown up in this time it was a shame to bring themselves to make her leave. Pattie looked around shakily and finally Penny rose from where she was sitting and pulled her great-granddaughter into an enormous hug. "The torch has been passed to you my dear," she announced, grabbing both her shoulders and staring deep into her eyes with the vital information. "You are the next, most powerful witch in the family line. Don't abuse that power."

"I won't, Grams," Pattie promised, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "You can be sure of that."

"Oh, I'll be watching so don't think you can pull one past me," Penny replied, giving her a sly mischievous look to which Pattie laughed. "You are a strong young woman and I'm proud of you. Don't you forget that."

"I haven't," the teen declared. Penny didn't offer such heavy words of wisdom packed with compliments all too often, you were smart to hold them close when they were presented to you. She stepped away, letting Patty take her place with a tight hug. Pattie ran her fingers down a piece of Patty's soft curly hair, "I wish I'd gotten to know you better. You taught them a lot though," she gestured to her aunts and mother, "and I'm really glad you were here for me too. I'm so lucky to have you."

"I'm glad I could be of some help to you, sweetheart," Patty said, gripping her granddaughter's in her own. "Keep a firm grip on those smarts that you got from your mother and you'll be fine. I don't doubt that."

Pattie leaned forward and whispered into Patty's ear a last piece of reassurance so quiet that she knew only Patty would hear, "We know about her, Aunt Paige, your fourth daughter." Patty gasped, taken aback like everything she'd worked so hard to conceal was ruined with her last statement, but Pattie tried to ease her worries, "It's okay. She's safe, she's with us, and we love her. Your daughters forgave you for it. Mom did too." They both rotated their heads to look at Prue, who was watching them guardedly, but she seemed to know what their conversation contained and nodded with a small smile. Patty kissed her granddaughter on the forehead, a sign of thanks.

When that farewell was finished, it seemed difficult to Pattie to continue further. She carefully went to Leo next, enveloping him in her grasp and thanking him for his help and his love. "Family is the most important thing, you're my niece and I love you. That doesn't change no matter what time you're in."

She moved on from Leo to Piper, finding her on the couch. "I love you," she told her aunt, the only thing she could think to say. Piper had been taking everything extremely hard and was severely distant, which worried everyone, but she looked at the child she was preparing to raise and her heart melted. "Let's just say you're one of the two reasons I'm still standing."

"What's the other reason?" Piper questioned although she already knew as Pattie nodded towards Phoebe, purposely not mentioning any presence of Paige. "I don't know how I manage to raise anyone as brave as you."

"Because we taught each other. And it took awhile, but we have like, this sixth sense with each other," Pattie said, looking at Phoebe, who kneeled before Pattie to listen. "The three of us. Listen, I know how mushy and cliché this sounds, everything I've said, but it's completely true. I'm _so _lucky to have you, because I might have fallen apart without you. You're both so much stronger than you think," she inched closer to Piper, who wrapped one arm around her shoulder.

"I don't know about that," Piper admitted, lowering her eyes and letting them linger on Pattie.

Pattie took a deep breath, "I do." She gave Piper a hug, if not to comfort her aunt rather than herself. "Don't give up hope yet, you've got so many things to look forward to, even if they're tied in with the bad. I wish I could tell you what they were." Pattie thought of little Wyatt right now, back home and probably all up in Piper's hair. She read him bedtime stories every night, and always ended them with a small story about his Aunt Prue. Whether or not he was old enough to understand her untimely end, Wyatt seemed to know her in some way after the information Pattie had given him starting just about a year ago when he'd approached her with the picture that sat in her bedroom and asked, so sweetly, who the pretty woman was that Pattie was with.

She'd been so surprised that Piper hadn't told him about her, but she'd seem why. Upon mentioning it to Piper, that look of hurt and anguish had reappeared in her aunt's eyes. It broke her too much to go to that place sometimes, and she wouldn't cry in front of her sons. So Pattie took the reins to be the person to explain it to Wyatt and even Chris now. They always became so engrossed in these stories as if they replaced the real thing, even when Pattie knew they didn't and hopefully one day she could summon her mother for her cousins to meet.

Piper held Pattie closer, "You look so much like her."

"I know," Pattie laughed falsely, that was becoming a nuisance to hear. "I hear that all the time."

"I'll always see you for your own person though, don't worry about that," Piper practically read Pattie's mind.

"Thanks," that touched Pattie's heart to hear, something she'd never exactly been able to muster up the courage to tell her aunts. Surely they didn't see Paige as Prue's replacement, she told herself, but what about herself, the 'carbon copy' of her mother. She choked out a giggle, "You're doing it already, the sixth sense thing. I love you."

"You too, sweetie," Piper said, and it was a promise.

"Your turn," Pattie joked, facing Phoebe. "I just don't know what to say to you, I don't know what would suit the situation. That was always _your _job." Phoebe stared at her curiously, letting her continue instead of interrupting. "Somehow you always know just what to say, it's why you fit in so well at your job," she finished, nearly biting her tongue but realizing that as long as specifics weren't there, the slip wouldn't be consequential.

Phoebe turned around, astounded. "You hear that Prue? I've got a job."

"And you're great at it," Pattie praised, "Just like you're a great aunt. So just, thank you. Someday, I guess you'll know for what." She threw herself into Phoebe's arms, and though Phoebe was hurting too, she rubbed Pattie's back and said a silent prayer for all that she knew would happen between her time and her niece's, they would need it.

"Be safe," she told Pattie. "I love you so much."

When they broke the hug, there were only two people remaining. Little Pattie was standing near the doorway observing the scene but not making a move to be a part of it. Only when Pattie glanced her way did she think to do anything, but the only thing she could think of was to cry. Her conversation with Pattie had left her heartbroken. She ran into the arms of her older self, who shushed her. "You can do this," Pattie encouraged. "I'm living proof, remember?" Little Pattie didn't look like she was convinced. "It takes time, and it never goes away, but it gets better. You're aloud to be happy and not aloud to blame yourself. Got that?" The child nodded, whether or not she actually agreed. "Maybe if you learn now, you can teach me for later, huh?"

Little Pattie squeezed Pattie tighter, afraid if she let go this person, this angel sent to her _would _disappear. Pattie was, in some way, a blessing to help her heal now. "But…how?"

"Don't try to wrap your mind around it. Just let me leave you with this, it all lies in family. These people are the most important ones we've got. Never close them out," she finished with a pang of guilt. It's exactly what Pattie had done and exactly what had landed her in 2008. But she could remedy that.

A little more persuaded now, little Pattie nodded, her tears drying. "Good luck," were her parting words.

That left one person, the hardest of them all.

It almost felt like now it was just the two of them in the room, Prue and Pattie. When she simply fell into Prue's embrace for nearly the twentieth time in the past few days, though it was never enough, her mind went completely blank. So Prue began, while the rest of the family tried not to pry and instead became absorbed in their own mini conversations, which were forced and rambled through. "I think we've said it all by now," Prue started. She brought Pattie closer to her, whispering, "I'll take care of them with a spell, to make it easier. Okay?"

"Yeah," Pattie agreed. She liked the way her mother's mind worked, but her own thoughts were distant.

"I love you more than anything else on this planet," Prue reminded her, making sure Pattie was looking at her. "You need to take your own advice and be happy. In this world there are a million things we'll regret and want to take back, don't make this trip one of them." She heard Pattie mumble yes and couldn't help but smile at her daughter, who was adorable despite being upset. "I'll always be here, your inspiration."

"I love you too, mama," she whimpered so softly it was barely audible to Prue. It broke her heart to hear.

"It's time, darling," Penny spoke up after the moment between them, the everlasting hug, had dwindled down to nothing. Reluctantly, Pattie broke away and stepping in the middle of a string of candles, the same ones they used to summon spirits, which were lit and dancing around by everyone else's movement.

Phoebe handed some of the others copies of the spell taken from years ago scribbled down on paper. Pattie watched them, the four generations in order of their birthdates. Her great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, aunts and then herself, all stood uneasily in a circle around her.

"Are you ready?" Piper asked, not sure if she herself was.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Pattie noted, signaling for them to read the spell. Each of them brought the paper to eye level, and with heavy hearts began to read as Pattie looked on nervously, hoping it wouldn't backfire on her.

_A time for everything _

_And for everything it's place._

_Return what has been moved_

_Through time and space._

And as a last goodbye, she raised her hand to her mouth and blew Prue a kiss, mouthing I love you to her again as the white lights circled her. She tensed, not being used to this as they were different than her aunt's orbing. But something, some presence calmed her, and she let them take her away a little bit at a time.

Then Pattie was gone.

When the glowing lights dissipated and the blurriness cleared, Pattie had to catch her breath. She took a few steps around what she hoped to be the manor of the correct era. The strewn out children's toys, a shopping list for party supplies still sitting on the fridge, the summer heat blazing through open windows instead of frigid autumn air; Pattie let out a sigh of relief, taking in the sights of her home.

The spell had worked.

She meandered back out of the kitchen they way she'd come, fearful at a silent house. Where was everyone? But once she'd made her way back into the hallway and started towards the stairs, noticing the pictures of her cousins replacing older outdated photos, it was Billie who met her halfway.

The blonde came galloping down the staircase, a vial of potion encased securely in her left hand and so wrapped up in whatever she was doing she didn't see Pattie until she knocked her over. "Oh!" she yelped.

Pattie fell backwards with a moan, hadn't she suffered enough pain with the last demon attack? "Billie!" she cried happily as Billie gave her a hand, pulling Pattie to her feet. The college girl had a look on her face as if she'd seen a ghost but Pattie merely passed it off at first, pleased to be where she was supposed to. "Thank god, I thought this place had been abandoned or something."

"Uh…Piper, Phoebe, Paige! Come here a sec!" she called, glancing towards the attic.

A lump rose in Pattie's throat as the three women came barreling down the stairs. At the sight of her each of them let their worries go. Pattie was safe, and unharmed. But the problem Pattie had faced all along was still there; once the girls had reached the first floor Pattie ran straight at one of them. Not Phoebe, not Piper, but Paige. The minute she had laid her eyes on Paige, Pattie immediately felt guilty.

Surprised, Paige wrapped her arms around her niece. "It's good to see you too," she laughed.

Not one of them yet realized that Pattie was already weeping.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so so so sorry, Aunt Paige," she cried without faltering, even as Paige sat the two of them down on the bottom step and despite the looks of confusion from everyone else. "I didn't mean it."

Paige didn't let her go the entire time. "It's okay," she soothed repeatedly, though she wasn't sure it was.

The calming words failed, Pattie continued to blame herself for almost taking her aunt away. "I was so selfish, I'm sorry. I love you so much, I promise. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm the worst niece in the world."

"Don't say that," Phoebe told her; her empathy powers were tearing her apart now, watching her niece in so much pain. It killed her to see her own family this way. Piper and Phoebe shared an equal look of worry, for someone who'd been so happy not long ago this was a big change, especially for Pattie.

"But it's true!" Pattie protested, burying her face in Paige's blouse. She choked out another loud sob, "God, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry is worth a lot less than an explanation," a prominent voice echoed as an Elder orbed in, staring Pattie down, even as she hugged Paige more. "I'm waiting."

**I hope it was good for all the time I took to get it to you, it was definitely longer. The demons are real demon names, but they don't really depict how they are actually supposed to be. There's only 2 chapters and the epilogue left. Are you ready for the explanation? Leave reviews! What would **_**you **_**like to see? I live to please. Thanks for all your patience, hopefully this chapter comes very soon but I can't promise you that.**

**Megan**


	13. 12: Tell Me It's Okay

"Well? I think you owe all of the Elders a clarification of what happened," the Elder said, folding her arms across her chest and fixing her gaze on Pattie, who drew back from Paige and pushed herself to her feet.

Pattie knew this Elder, her name was Sandra and she was by far the nicest of the beings 'up there.' If even Sandra wasn't around to be an ally this time Pattie knew she was in trouble. She matched Sandra's stance, crossing her arms and leveling her stare with the Elder's. "Why should I have anything to say to you?"

"Your mistakes were disastrous on so many levels, you may very well have messed up much more from your own time if you hadn't been more careful," she warned, fully expecting Pattie to come to her senses and realize what the impact was of her spell. Unfortunately, the opposite happened; the teenager stood firmer. Sandra had only known Pattie by one or two words as she grew up, none of the Elders had ever needed to deal with her actions personally seeing as they usually tied in with the rest of the family. But now, confronting her, Sandra realized how stubborn Pattie truly was. She'd only met Prue in the afterlife, but Sandra could still see the similarities and from her experiences with Prue, she knew there was a rough road ahead of her.

Pattie took a second to gather a response, and then replied. "You expected me not to be careful? No confidence in the naïve teenage witch, huh?"

Sandra hadn't considered how her words sounded and immediately tried to conceal them with ones easier to bear. "That's not what I meant, I –"

"Then say what you mean, or don't talk to me," Pattie interrupted, clearly testing her limits. She'd been by her family to always have manners with authority, but this was one exception, she figured. When Sandra sighed, and dropped her arms to her side, Pattie realized that she in fact had _nothing _to say. So Pattie did. "My mother said that I never should regret what happened when I went back to her." She smiled mischievously, "And I don't."

Sandra took that in, trying to contain her anger. This child _was _like Prue, exactly. They both had the same ability to make her want to scream with their pride, their strength. "Your choice to create that spell wasn't a smart one, Patricia. It could have led to changes you wouldn't have liked." She was just repeating herself now, and Pattie didn't enjoy it, she felt like she was being treated like a kid again.

"First of all, don't you _dare _call me Patricia, _ever _because you are _not _my mother, got that?" she clarified, anger growing as she spoke, a classic Halliwell trait. "Second of all, if my spell was so bad, why didn't you interfere and stop me? You must have known that it wasn't my intent to be sucked into a different time."

"We tried," Sandra admitted, sighing at her own shame.

"But…?" Pattie wondered aloud when the woman paused suspiciously.

"You…were a little too powerful for us to stop. A little more powerful than we actually realized," Sandra finished, watching Pattie's jaw drop and noticing that she wasn't alone in the discovery of the girl's sole power. Sure, for the Charmed Ones power came in three, but for this child it came in one.

As for Pattie, it'd always been Wyatt who was represented as high and mighty being the first born in the next generation. They'd assumed because Pattie wasn't born into magic seeing as their powers had been dormant at the time and that Prue was gone and technically no longer part of the Power of Three, the next generation thing skipped over her. Pattie hadn't enjoyed that at first because it'd played so much attention Wyatt's way for his protection. It made her feel like some sort of outcast, not being the strongest when she was the oldest, like her mother had been. But then, somewhere along the line Pattie had grown to like that she'd been skipped, it'd taken the fuss off of her.

Apparently, everyone had been wrong.

"So wait a minute here, for six years now we thought that my little cousin harnessed this great mysterious ability to be the strongest out there but now your going and taking all of that back and telling me that my strength is greater? _Me?_" Pattie cried exasperatedly. She could hardly believe it and she wasn't sure how it made her feel.

Sandra clasped her hands together and took a deep breath, trying to prevent Pattie from further exploding. "Yes. Your powers were just…latent, I guess you could put it, undeveloped."

"But she's had them for nearly ten years now and my son has only been around for six," Piper pointed out and Pattie glanced at her, forgetting until that moment that her family was still there watching, discovering a plethora of new information from this argument that would not suit her well in the future.

"Yes, but powers work through strength and emotion. Up until that moment, Pattie had never focused so hard on a spell in her life. She gathered all of her vigor and it worked, full force, better than we could have imagined."

Pattie couldn't help herself, "So you…couldn't stop me from going to 2001 either then, could you have?"

"That actually, was in our control," Sandra admitted, watching Pattie's anger grow.

"Why? Because I was further back in time and without my real powers?" Sandra nodded and Pattie dropped her hands with an angered groan. "So why did you then? To see me suffer?"

She didn't feel Phoebe's hands on her shoulders until they were restraining her slightly from lunging towards the Elder. The feeling calmed her frustration a bit, much like that night at the park. Still, once Pattie had settled she shook both of Phoebe's hands away, not wanting to risk breaking down and showing her vulnerability yet.

Sandra stared at her for a second, as if trying to see past the tough exterior and locate the little girl within her. "We let you go through with it," she finally explained, "because we knew we had to let you learn a lesson from all of this, otherwise the trip would have been pointless and you would have kept at your goal."

She didn't say what that goal was; Pattie knew the reason being was because she was the one who would have to further explain it to her family later.

"You said before that I could have messed everything up," Pattie reminded Sandra, her voice cracking.

"But what you didn't let me say was that we knew you wouldn't. Once you got there, it didn't take you long to realize that you couldn't stop her death without pretty obvious effects. We didn't actually think you'd _watch _it happen," Sandra told her, noticing that Pattie's hands were clenched into fists and shaking.

The child shook her head. She asked for the facts, but couldn't handle extra, "Stop, I'm not reliving it again."

"I'm sorry," the Elder replied, and she was.

"If you had control over everything in the past, why didn't you just bring me back here on your own? I couldn't do it without my powers because it takes even more strength to get back to your own time then to get out of it, but I bet you could have," Pattie guessed meekly. She wanted to fall into her family's comfort but she stood strong. After all, everyone told her she was like her mother, it was time to prove it.

Sandra's face softened. She said gently, "Power wasn't the only factor. We couldn't send you back because even if you didn't realize it, you weren't ready yet. Your inner magic, powers or not, probably would have repelled ours. Once you'd coped with your situation and _you _allowed yourself to let magic bring you home, we just let you rely on family. Time travel may be mysterious, but we knew the magic of the Halliwells combined could overpower it."

Pattie ran through all of this in her head. She was so powerful that the Elders couldn't interfere with her spell, and then wouldn't interfere when they did have the option of stopping her from going to 2001. She was so confused, and it showed.

"We may not have played a huge part in getting you back home, but we sent the ones who did," Sandra finally continued when Pattie did not.

Pattie picked her head up slightly, eyeing Sandra. "My dad?"

Piper and Phoebe both perked up to that, in the many years since Andy's death, Pattie had almost never mentioned him. It wasn't that she concealed that fact that she missed him; her grief over Prue was just more pertinent because of the years they'd spent together.

"Yes," Sandra told her. "And…your grandmother and great-grandmother."

"I've summoned them before," Pattie countered, a little stronger now. "That wasn't new to me."

"We specifically asked them not to go at first, feeling it might make it even harder on you, that you might not be able to take all of the lost family," Sandra recalled as Pattie remembered setting the candles in a circle and calling for Patty to come to her aid and then later doing the same when she had come up with a plan.

Both times their arrivals hadn't been immediate. Was that because of the Elders?

"So why _did _they come then?" Pattie wondered, staring at Sandra and waiting for an answer.

"Your grandmother was persistent. She reminded us of what had already happened because of the lack of guidance when you needed it, saying had we just sent her down in your own time or maybe have even sent down your mother that maybe this wouldn't have been happening now. Patty guilted us into letting her go, so we did."

Pattie smiled at the thought of her grandmother jumping to her defense. While Patty was definitely the gentler out of herself and Penny, the teen didn't doubt that when it came to her family you didn't mess with her.

That was the way it was with all Halliwells.

"We didn't try to go up against your great-grandmother when they went to visit you without your request or the second time you summoned them. It would have been suicide," Sandra said, smiling.

Pattie found herself laughing too, unexpectedly. That was her Grams. "Good choice."

"We pick our battles wisely," Sandra joked. Pattie wasn't sure she'd seen an Elder laugh before. "Which was why, when your father nearly demanded that he be the one to convince you that it was all right to return home, we didn't refuse."

"He told me that I could handle it. He was the only one I could bring myself to believe," Pattie's voice dissolved to a barely audible whisper, but her aunts still heard it. "He told me I wasn't alone."

"Because you're not," Phoebe spoke up. Pattie turned half-heartedly to look at her, then back to Sandra.

"Thank you," she said, though no one knew who it was directed towards.

Sandra, seeing how pained Pattie obviously was, held off for a second, considering the circumstances. She'd gone into this conversation convinced that the child needed to face some sort of consequences for her actions, but now it was clear that she'd already experienced them.

She'd had to come home.

Offering forward her hand, Sandra began, "Why don't we just leave it at that then?"

Pattie gaped at her, surprised, "You're not going to take away my powers or something?"

"I think you've already faced enough, don't you?" she asked and Pattie nodded slowly as if she couldn't believe she was off the hook. Then, a sealed agreement, they shook hands.

Almost as if, as an Elder and a witch, they were equals.

Then Sandra orbed out.

She left them there like that, the five of them alone. Pattie looked at each one of them separately, noticing the looks that glimmered in each of their eyes. Each stare was different, but she couldn't read what they were trying to say. Anger, shame, empathy maybe?

Billie was the first to speak up, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit. She wrapped her arms around Pattie, giggling. "Well, I think you already look older. Must be all that time travel," she joked, doing her best to put Pattie in a better disposition.

Instead, Pattie pulled away from her, gazing up towards Billie shamefully. The college girl had been like her big sister the past few years and while she appreciated the effort in her defense, Pattie wasn't ready to face her family like she'd thought originally. There was someone she needed to talk to first. "I'm outta here," she mumbled and then, realizing how much she missed her powers, cloaked herself with an invisibility shield.

Although she heard the sounds of her aunts calling after her as she ran out the door, Pattie just tuned them out. She slowed to a walk as she hit the sidewalk, not afraid of anyone catching her. After all, how could they?

In the back of her mind she heard the scolding of Prue's voice, telling her how she knew it was wrong to run away, asking if she'd learned anything from her trip and if she _had, _why she was doing this.

No one chased her out the door or down the steps. She walked nearly a mile with the invisibility guard still protecting her from sight. In many ways, Pattie was thankful for this power. When she walked by stores, there was no reflection staring back at her in the display window; Pattie didn't have to see the guilt and frustration that was glowing in her eyes. No one could recognize her, or give her concerned eyes, or try to help here. She had literally vanished.

That was what made it okay to cry.

She hadn't done it in front of the Elder because she wanted to appear stronger. But looks were purely deceiving, and her aunts already knew that she was concealing a huge burden. There was no pretending there.

The San Francisco beach was approximately two miles from her home, and after twenty minutes of walking she took off into a run, sprinting the second mile in eight minutes until she reached the barren beach. Dropping to her knees in the sand and panting, Pattie stared up into the sky. It was painted with swirls of coral, red, orange and even magenta as the sun began to rise on the eastern side of the horizon. That was when she noticed how early it really was, that time really had been moving differently in 2008 as opposed to 2000.

It worked to her benefit that the beach was closed and would be for an hour or two more. There was no one around to notice what she was about to do. Scampering off near the rocks which were piled high above her head and created an area isolated from everything else, she kicked off her sandals and let them sink into the wet sand as the water rushed higher up and finally swarmed around her ankles, soaking her skin.

It was freezing.

"Ugh," Pattie dropped her head back, moaning, but sat through it anyway. Once the water dwindled, absorbing in the sand and numbing her feet, she couldn't feel it anymore, not even when the next wave came.

Now if only she could make her whole body go numb.

There'd been one thing she wanted to do before she had the courage to explain to her family, in depth, what happened. There was someone she needed to talk to; someone she knew could give her peace of mind. But after all this guy had gone through with her family, she wasn't sure he'd even come.

_Spirits of air, sand and sea  
Converge to set the Angel free  
In the wind I send this rhyme  
Bring death before me before my time._

The wind picked up around her, sending a chill creeping down her spine. Pattie looked to her right and then her left, nervously. Had she thought this through properly before making any decisions?

"Well, isn't this a surprise."

"Oh," Pattie said, unconsciously getting to her feet, but still feeling small as she looked up at the figure draped in black. He stared at her. "You came."

"I think I'm looking back into the past," he noted, and said nothing else.

"Why? Did my mother…did she call you once like this?" Pattie asked hesitantly, although she already knew the answer in her heart. "She did, didn't she? She made you come to her, right? That's why she came here after Davidson died, to talk to you?" She remembered Prue telling her not long after they encountered the Seekers about how she'd met Death, even talked to him. But she'd never known the specifics. It figured she'd recreate them without even meaning to.

"Your mother and I crossed paths, yes," Death told her. "And I'll tell you the same thing I told her all those years ago. You cannot win against me. I cannot bring any person you may have lost back. Not an innocent, a friend, your father," he looked at her pointedly. "Not even your mother."

"I don't want you to bring her back!" Pattie shrieked, caught up in her own emotions.

"Yes you do, you feel guilty and you want me to bring her to you to prove that whatever part you played in her final minutes didn't contribute to her death. But I can't bring her back to you. You know that as well as I do." He had almost no emotion in his voice as he spoke, but it still caused Pattie to react.

"You think you know my thoughts so well, but you don't!" the teen yelled, dissolving to tears as she fell back on to a rock and wept.

Death didn't seem fazed. "No, I know you as well as I know any other grieving daughter or orphaned child. But it's not my job to ease your pain or hold your hand; I just deliver souls to where they need to be."

Pattie looked up, disgusted. "You're an evil being."

The Angel sighed. He wondered how he managed to deal with the Halliwells in the past; they were like a never ending wall of emotion, always ready to make his job more difficult. "Death isn't evil; it's just a part of life. You can't stop it any more than you can stop the sun from rising and setting each day. If you stay angry at me forever, then you're setting yourself up for vulnerability," he said, watching as she glanced up at him, as if for the first time she was really hearing him. "Your mother discovered that too. It'll do you well to learn from her mistakes."

She wanted to fume at the mention, yet again, of her mother, but deep down Pattie knew he was right. She'd wanted some sort of proof from the Angel of Death that she'd made the right decision in coming back, and she couldn't have it. He couldn't bring Prue to her. Pattie had probably known that all along.

It dawned on her then, that she wasn't even sure what else she could possibly say.

"You may as well say what you want to say to me now and stop wasting time. If I'm to keep the order of the Grand Design, I can't waste my whole day on this conversation," Death said, waiting for her to do whatever it was that was going to satisfy her, but Pattie was clueless.

"Just go," she waved him away without looking. "I don't even know why I called you."

"Yes you do. This family always has some sort of bone to pick with me. Patricia isn't it?" she nodded, cringing, "I can feel your need to blame me for this, Patricia. So go ahead then, blame me for the mess you got yourself tied up in, because you believe death is what caused you to act as you did."

Pattie felt the tears returning. "No, just leave me alone."

But Death was persistent. If she was going to work so hard at interrupting his day, he was going to be sure they were finished before he vanished again. "You asked for me and I came. Honestly, I don't care what problems you have, I'd just like to avoid another confrontation with you witches in the future."

At that, Pattie broke. She slammed her fists against the solid stone, screaming, "If you want me to shout, I will! Why do you do it? How do you get away from all of it knowing that you cause so much pain for families? How do you exist knowing you ended a life?" She wanted to tear her hair out she felt so weak, defenseless. It was the one thing you couldn't stop.

"That's the thing you aren't getting. I don't kill people, Patricia; I just take their souls after they're already gone. I'm not evil," he reminded her. "I didn't choose to take your father or your mother."

It was strange when Death actually sat down next to her on the rocks as Pattie pulled her feet to her body and stared out into the water. She contemplated all he'd just told her. "Then what did?"

"Something much bigger than either of us," he replied, gentler now, showing some sort of sympathy but not much. "It can't be stopped, so it's best not to fight it. Life has no meaning without death, because without an end people would not have a point." He watched as Pattie gripped her legs tighter, as her hair blew in the wind, as a single tear made a river down her cheek and created a small puddle on the boulder below. She was different than the other Halliwells, Death realized; she was more open to change without even comprehending it. "If you blame death forever, you're going to lose yourself, just like Prudence did. You cannot pit yourself against me, you have to accept me. Release your anger."

Tucking her hair back behind her ear, Pattie sighed. She thought of Prue.

"If I can't be angry at you, then what?" she queried, helplessly. "_Can _I be angry?"

"Life is unfair, Patricia," Death explained. "I take children who are too young to have any experience at life and husbands that never get to make up with their wives after a fight. I take a straight A student who was just accepted into college or an elderly man who just welcomed a granddaughter." Those instances were all familiar to death as he laid them out in front of her. They were common, because Death wasn't usually expected. "Be angry at the situation, at the creature that caused her demise. Grieve," he told her.

Pattie knew the ending to the sentence because Prue had said it to her after her own confrontation with Death. She hadn't been too convinced of it then, Pattie remembered, but maybe they did make sense. "Grieve," she repeated. "And then move on."

Even Death seemed surprised she could recall that.

"You should learn this now, you'll be better off," he told her.

"Are you going to take my family?" she whispered quietly, almost afraid of the answer.

"No," Death told her firmly. "They are not on my list, not yet anyway. But when one of them is, I suggest you remember this conversation and remember the bigger picture." Then, he actually touched her and Pattie felt herself quiver. Something about Death made her anxious. She shifted, brushing her hair away and looking at him. "I cannot spare one without affecting the cosmic balance of things."

It was hard for Pattie to grasp the thought of a future without her aunts. But then again, she'd once thought she couldn't live without her mother and now here she was. Maybe death _wasn't _the end of the world.

Had she finally found something to alleviate her heartache?

"Do you remember taking her?" Pattie finally spoke up. "Do you remember taking my mother?"

"That is against everything I'm supposed to represent," he warned her. But for some reason, when Death saw the gaze in her eyes, he changed his mind. The longing glimmer of hope Pattie had, that maybe this was the one piece of relief he could actually offer. "Yes, Prue was one hard to forget," he recalled, standing.

Was that a bad thing? Pattie wondered. She felt her heart skip a beat, pressing herself up. Death had his back to her, but he'd answered, which was more than Pattie believed she'd get to begin with, now she had to know more. She just had to if she was ever going to get any peace.

She thought of Prue, discovering she was dead. No matter how well she may have known her mother, Pattie couldn't come to an accurate conclusion of how she might react. Here was her chance to find out.

"I need to know. Was she okay?"

"What do yo—"

Pattie cut him off, her own voice shaking, "How did she react? Did she make it to…the other side?"

He stayed silent for a long time. "She fought me. For you. For her sisters. She told me she wasn't ready and that they weren't ready. And neither were you."

"I wasn't," Pattie replied softly. "I wasn't."

"Death's not about being ready, it's about when it's your time," the Angel clarified, and Pattie sniffled. "She stopped fighting me when she realized that. She allowed herself to be just a soul. Not a mother, a sister, or a witch. Just a spirit that needed to be guided to where she was supposed to be. And she made me promise to tell you that she made it safely, and that she'd be watching you."

"Really?" Pattie inquired, becoming more intrigued. Prue had always been the leader, for her to sacrifice her power and let someone help her was remarkable enough on its own. Death really was an inimitable moment. Not only did it change people on Earth, it changed the spirits too. "Did she make it safely, like she said?"

Death nodded, and then he added, "I saw to that personally."

"Can she really watch over me?" Pattie wondered aloud, staring towards the sky, recollecting the times where she, as a child, would look for the face of Prue in the clouds as a sign that she was really up there looking back at her. "Is that just something people say?" Pattie asked again, calming down a bit.

"Even I don't have all the answers," the Angel of Death admitted.

"I still don't understand this completely," Pattie conceded, clasping her hands together and taking a deep breath and she smoothed all of the information over in her mind. "It might take me some time to grasp."

"People are never given enough time, use yours wisely. One day, you'll be on my list too." When Pattie's eyes widened in fear, he quickly jumped to correct her. "But for today, you are not," Death assured her. Pattie thought of those who _were _having their final moments and for a moment she was scared for them, for the day it would be her. Death, seeing the expression on her face, jumped in. "What time you spend fearing me is also wasted time. From what I know, it's a peaceful end. That's why people have to live, to get there. Death _has _a meaning."

Smiling, Pattie nodded. She understood. "Thank you."

A wave crashed to shore, frightening the teen as she pulled herself back out of instinct. Letting out a breath and looking back to where Death stood she was surprised to notice he was no longer there.

She thought again of those people whose souls he was going to collect, and then replayed Death's last words. At the idea of Prue waiting for her, one day, Pattie wasn't scared anymore.

"I just hope that when the time comes, I can be as brave as you were, Mom," Pattie prayed, and another tall collapse of water onto the shore as a wave broke was her answer. Prue had to be with her. She felt her mother's presence with her, assuring her that she could be brave.

And then another voice complied. "Of course you will be."

Startled, Pattie turned to find Piper and Phoebe climbing over the rocks, without Paige. She wondered why. Her mind jumped to conclusions before she could stop it. Maybe Paige had figured it out, maybe she didn't want to see Pattie ever again, maybe she was too mad to confront her.

"What have we said about running away from your problems?" Phoebe scolded, even as she pulled her niece into a tight hug, happy to have Pattie in close proximity again. She'd always been so overly protective of Pattie, especially when she was a little girl, so afraid that if Pattie was out of her sight for too long, she'd disappear.

"Technically, I didn't run away," she muttered. "A spell backfired and catapulted me into the middle of them."

Piper rolled her eyes, trying to smother her own laughter. Sometimes her niece was too much. "I see."

Pattie sighed, not fighting Phoebe's embrace and instead inching closer to her because now she didn't have to hide anything, she could explain it all. "I screwed up," she murmured, gazing out as the rays of the rising sun began to sparkle on the water. "I screwed up big time."

Phoebe wrapped her arms around Pattie's, enveloping her niece tighter and grabbing her hands. "Well, sweetie, you're a teenager. It's kind of your job to mess things up," she said, trying her best to make sense of things.

"Not like this," Pattie spoke softly, choking on her words. "Did I scare you?"

"A little bit," Piper told her, but when she saw Phoebe's glare she admitted, "A lot. We couldn't figure out what exactly you'd gotten yourself into, but we knew it wasn't by a demon. Nevertheless, we figured it wasn't good."

"I'm really sorry," Pattie apologized, feeling hot tears spill down her face and not having the concern to wipe them away. Phoebe kissed her forehead with empathy, rocking her niece back and forth in her arms. "I'm such a bad person," Pattie cried, sobbing harder.

Even Phoebe gentle swaying of her body wasn't enough to calm Pattie. Despite all the crying she had done previously, she had been waiting for this moment all along to unload her greatest emotions.

"Ssh, sweetie, ssh, it's all right. Just try to breathe for me, okay?" Phoebe hushed her, smoothing her hand over Pattie's hair, breathing slowly and deeply hoping Pattie might do the same. Piper joined her and Pattie, seeing this, tried to focus and pull herself together. "Good," Phoebe said when she her crying decreased to minor whimpers. "Pattie, you have to talk to us. I know you're ashamed of what happened, but we can't help you if you don't tell us."

Pattie remembered what she'd told her younger self before parting. It all lies in family.

Taking a deep breath, Pattie began her story. "So this is what happened…"

**Cliffhanger? I know, I know. Sorry to leave you hanging. I really was hoping this chapter might contain a little more, but I felt I left you guys waiting long enough. I didn't get too many reviews last time, I'm worried. Am I losing my touch here? Thank you for helping me reach 80 though! That's amazing. I tried really hard to keep true to the character of the Elder and the Angel of Death here so I'd love to know what you think. There are going to be some big things revealed next chapter. I can't believe this story is almost over, and I promise, I'll try to have a new chapter up sooner! **

**You guys are awesome!**

**Megan**


	14. 13: The Secrets She Shared

With each detail, minor or major, Pattie's face grew more and more flushed. Phoebe was sure she'd cry through the whole explanation, but oddly enough her niece pulled herself together. She leaned on Phoebe both physically and emotionally, relying on her aunt to get her through this tough explanation.

They were still relatively early on into the story, and it wasn't easy for either of them to hear. Piper didn't want to admit it, but she knew some part of her was a bit jealous of Pattie's situation. Ever since the day of Prue's death she'd hoped – no, she'd begged and prayed – that she could be spared even five minutes with her sister. Just another lost moment, another forgotten "I love you", or a desperately needed hug was all Piper wanted. She loved Phoebe with every ounce of compassion in her and both cherished and adored Paige and the sprightly personality that came with her, but she felt selfish to believe that it wasn't enough. As she enfolded her little sisters in a hug, telling them how much they meant to her before either would leave to return to their own homes, was it honestly fair that she secretly desired her big sister again to do the same with her?

Until this problem had been dropped at their feet, she'd wondered how much Phoebe wanted the same thing. It was, by far, clear to Piper how the brunt of the loss had weighed in on Pattie with her young age and critical need to have her mother. She spent many evenings with her fragile niece curled up in her arms sobbing because it was the only thing her mind could process, the only thing that made sense. There were just as many where Phoebe or Paige braced themselves to deal with one of those moments and even more where Pattie forced herself to internalize that pain. Piper remembered a night where she lingered in the doorway to the conservatory as Pattie held a picture of her mother in her hands, staring not at it but past it as if she were remembering some instant in time. She would look ready to fall apart and as Piper was prepared to go in and comfort her suddenly Pattie took one deep breath, placed the picture in it's resting place, and calmly walked out of the room without noticing her.

Piper had listened outside Pattie's door that night for sounds of whimpering, understandably worried. She'd even gone to tell her niece goodnight, but all was quiet and Pattie had fallen asleep without one tear. The next morning she'd bounded down the stairs in a joyful mood, asking if she could meet Emily after school for a movie. When Piper confronted Phoebe about this, she'd smiled fondly, remarking how much more Prue showed up in her every day, and then turned left Piper alone in the kitchen.

The was what made Piper wonder.

Phoebe had been the one to try to be strong after their sister's death and hold her own so they, as witches, weren't completely destroyed. She concealed any hurt she kept far back in her mind, rarely mentioning Prue to Piper's knowledge except when Pattie would bring her up. It seemed keeping her emotions balled up was her way of dealing. Either way, she knew now Phoebe craved for her just as much.

What was most difficult for Piper to realize was that Paige missed Prue, maybe more than they did.

She'd wondered for seven years now what was going on in her sister's head on these types of days. Both sisters had figured long ago that she just didn't know _how _to feel. How could you miss someone you never knew?

But today she'd caught a glimpse of Paige's face as Sandra and Pattie bantered back and forth, glazed over with a wistful stare. Every time Pattie said the word 'Mom' or Sandra uttered Prue's name it increased and because Piper, too, had that same longing gaze she just knew.

And then she mentally kicked herself for not noticing sooner.

Piper recognized now that she and Phoebe had underestimated Paige's feelings. They'd assumed, wrongfully, that she was just being a good aunt on that first dreadful October 28th where Pattie had begged to see her mother and Paige volunteered to take her to visit Prue's grave. It'd become a habitual thing, Paige would offer on those painful days where Pattie was suffering and she'd graciously accept, sometimes bringing Phoebe and Piper along for company. They'd thought all the times she looked at photo albums, studied Prue's work with magic, or listened to Pattie's endless memories it'd been out of curiosity, obligation as a witch, or duty to be a loving aunt.

They'd been too wrapped up in their own problems to comprehend that, all along, they'd neglected their baby sister's silent calls for some enlightenment on the subject of their eldest sister because she did truly miss her.

That needed to change; they had to help Paige and themselves.

Which, with no doubt, came to helping Pattie.

Pattie and all three sisters were linked on an emotional level. With her hurt came their anguish and following her smiles calmed their nerves. Piper fathomed that it was because of their strong presence in her life as her guardians, the ones who'd raised her since that terrible day seven years past. She herself had that with her children and Phoebe developed it with Kyra immediately. If they could face Pattie's grievous mistake together, maybe they could help each other overcome their severe heartache. Or at least lessen it.

She listened to Pattie unveil every aspect of her experience, trying to lock eyes with her niece but finding it difficult when Pattie wouldn't tear her gaze away from the ocean as a wave rolled to shore or the solid stone. As hard as she tried to be angry with Pattie for disobeying the rules of magic and then handling her encounters less than smoothly, Piper just couldn't convince herself to feel any bit of frustration. By the empathetic look in Phoebe's eyes as she took in the information, Piper gathered her sister couldn't either. Imagining being thrust into her sister's arms for the first time in years without warning, Piper quickly came to the conclusion she'd be just as confused.

In the end, Pattie had done something Piper would never have the courage to do.

"I told her my name was Elizabeth because, well, I had to tell her _something _or I kind of figured she'd think I was a demon and I'd be facing the wrath of Prue Halliwell, which I liked to avoid whenever possible," Pattie said, smiling a little at her own comment.

Phoebe and Piper did too. "Sound about right," Piper remembered.

"What else did you tell her?" Phoebe asked.

"That I was fifteen and I was born in North Beach, because I was. I told her that was all she could know, but she wanted more. She wanted to know about my parents because she thought they'd worry about me," she replied, parroting the information she'd fed Prue during their first encounter. Phoebe felt her mind swell, how had Pattie handled that question? Reading Phoebe's mind, Pattie continued, "I told her the truth. I said my father wasn't living anymore and that my mother would know that she wouldn't have to worry about me."

Phoebe couldn't help it, she scoffed. "How was that the truth?"

Pattie looked up at her, leveling her gaze with a sly stare." I never said that my mom wasn't…alive."

Considering that, Phoebe realized she was right. "You really do have Halliwell blood in you."

"As if there was ever a second thought about that," Piper corrected her immediately and then focused on Pattie again, taking on of her hands. "Go on." Pattie did, she further went into the demon attack, how she couldn't leave well enough alone with the athamae. She began to get into it, even giggling a little.

Visualizing the vanquish in her mind, feeling the athamae wrapped in the tight enclosure of her palm, Pattie explained, "Well, Mom threw him into a wall and then you froze him. He was pissing me off and _you guys _weren't doing anything. It just kind of…slipped and then he exploded." She emphasized the explosion with her hands, making light of the situation.

"Ah, yes, it just slipped," Phoebe chuckled. "Face it kid, you're one for the action."

"She was too," Piper added, downing the spirit in the atmosphere as Pattie stopped laughing.

The nightmare incident came next as Pattie delved into the experience she'd forgotten, being comforted by her mother. She looked at Phoebe as she explained the conversation, the misjudgment of demon fear and the arrival of her younger self at the perfect moment. "Figures I could count on myself to save me from an dangerous conversation."

"I still can't believe we bought the whole 'Elizabeth' thing," Phoebe interrupted as she pieced the portions of her story together. "I would think we'd be smart enough to catch on to that." She quickly silenced herself when she went to say, yet again, Pattie's similarities to Prue.

"Not your fault," Pattie dismissed her. "It's not like there weren't other problems. I went up to my old room with myself and started finding old memories, like my beanie babies. I played around with little me, giving facts that only I would know like when I got them."

Piper looked up, surprised. "Her or…your reaction?"

"Absolutely amazed. I started talking to her, telling her we were alike and that one day soon something bad was going to happen but that she was aloud to move on and be happy. No one would be mad. And then I said that she couldn't control this thing, because it was destiny." Pattie blinked back tears, "And you can't stop destiny."

"Oh sweetie," Phoebe soothed her, brushing the bangs from her eyes, "you really need to take your own advice, you know that? The only one who's ever been mad at you for moving on is yourself."

Pattie sniffled, but did not cry. "I know."

"Pattie," Piper prompted, placing a hand on her chin and directing it towards her, "if we could have stopped this, if there was anything to do about it you know we would have right?" Pattie nodded unconvincingly, at which Piper sighed. Prue would have known what to do in this situation, what to say.

But then again, had Prue been here the situation wouldn't exist in the first place.

"She seemed to get it then, why can't I just understand it _now_?" Pattie screamed, frustrated with her raging hormones more than anything else.

"Circumstances affect us more than we realize. We don't know how to feel…what to do…" Pattie knew Piper was right.

"I _didn't_ know what to do, so I summoned a little help from Grandma," Pattie went on, and Phoebe recollected what Sandra had said about Patty's fighting to aid her granddaughter on her journey. "She knew who I was right away, and I told her how I couldn't tell you who I was because I was still afraid of what would come of it. Then, she found out about mom."

Both Piper and Phoebe figured as much, knowing that confiding in a ghost brought no repercussions because they had no power in affecting the future.

"What'd she say?" Phoebe wanted to know.

"What do you think she said? She gave me the textbook answer! That I should tell her who I was. That she couldn't do any more than point me in the right direction. That if I didn't act fast the Elders would intervene. Obviously she was wrong about that part," Pattie muttered, cursing under her breath at the thought of the Elders, but then returning her mind to the thought of her grandmother. Patty, whose last thought was to remind her that she was loved, to have her think of her family, to be safe. No wonder the family had so much good in it. With remnants of shame, she dropped her head, "she was right. I had to tell them. What I didn't realize was that little me already knew."

Phoebe gasped, choking on the salty morning air. "You did?"

"Of course, because I'm just a genius," Pattie answered, trying to smile. Phoebe rolled her eyes, but Pattie's grin disappeared as fast as it had come. "Then you all found out when mom saw the birthmark on my wrist. She put her hands on my face and I felt all of that love she had for me. All of that motherly compassion I'd been missing. And she asked why she hadn't seen it sooner. She outed me in front of you two and I wasn't ready for you to know. So I…I panicked and I did the one thing I knew how to do." Pattie didn't realize that she'd placed her hands on her face in a similar fashion to how Prue had, that she was shaking harder as the moment struck, then her voice was dwindling. "I ran."

The next part stung as she explained the adventure to the park, how she sat for what seemed like hours until Phoebe showed up. Her aunts were being strangely calm over the whole incident and she was pleasantly surprised for that. It's not like she'd expected them to blow up and disown her over the entire circumstance, but she didn't expect her aunts to laugh along with the small jokes and keep her so close.

But after all, wasn't that just what family did?

She went into careful detail about her conversation with Phoebe, watching Piper's face light up when she mentioned the bit about the stars. Following through the beginning of the argument, her voice faded when she came to the critical point where she admitted to telling Phoebe about Prue. Piling information on top of information, Pattie continued through the walk to the graveyard, her confrontation with her mother, her breakdown and then the ultimate slip of the tongue. Both Phoebe and Piper seemed to stop breathing and turn blue at that moment, as if cutting their brains off from taking in anything else.

It was surreal to be sitting on this rock retelling the moments she shared with her mother, hard to believe they'd actually occurred. For her, it was like those two days were trapped inside a snow globe where she could remember but not get close enough to touch. Soon she'd wonder if she just dreamed it.

Then came the car ride home, an explanation of how she'd closed herself off from everyone and how Leo entered into the picture. Pattie described her nightmare, the happy dream that followed it, and what memory she had of waking up the next morning. She included every piece that stuck in her mind because Pattie feared missing the most miniscule specification might be missing the most vital. When she came to Penny's presence in it all, Pattie laughed, "I did not doubt Grams would show up to add her two cents in." She moved on to the subject of Darryl, "It wasn't hard to convince him of who I was. He told me to do anything for us and I silently asked him to say that in five years." And then, landed on her meeting of Paige. "She was just like when we met her, except so much different, because she didn't have us."

Piper remembered Paige's sleek black hair and independent demeanor. Phoebe recalled her hidden innocence and pure desire to do anything fun. She was a free spirit.

Phoebe pressed for more from Pattie, who'd now quieted to let everything she'd said sink in. "Why were you going to all this trouble? To see Darryl? Paige? Honey, I know the way your mind works. You wouldn't put yourself through all these risky visits if you didn't have a plan."

Pattie wasn't sure why she looked to Piper for support, her aunt watched her even more curiously than Phoebe. Steadying her heart rate, which was speeding up as she neared closer to the subject of what she'd attempted, Pattie covered her eyes with her hands and took mouthfuls of air.

"What was Sandra saying to you about watching it? What did you do?" Piper finally dared to ask.

"I watched her die," Pattie mumbled, shaking like a leaf, "again."

Piper and Phoebe shared a look and when Phoebe went to offer some words of sympathy, nothing came out.

"When Grandma and Grams came to visit me, Grandma told me to utilize all of my allies. So I thought about it. I'd messed everything up, and as far as I could see I hadn't gotten rid of my pain like I wanted. I mean, every time I was around mom I tried to run or avoid her because I couldn't deal with seeing her. I knew I was going to have to leave again sooner or later and when I thought about that it hurt even more. If I found Aunt Paige, I thought that maybe I could find some way to lead her to us without being obvious of who I was and then I could have Mom _and _Aunt Paige for the rest of my life. Even though every instinct told me I knew better, I went to Darryl anyway.

"He found her for me. He took me to social services and we had a normal conversation, just like I started telling you. I tried to make her want to look for her birth family by pretending I was some adopted child considering looking for mine. I hugged her when I thanked her and it felt like all of those times she's done that with me in the past. I realized how much I did really miss her. And then I left.

"I went back to the manor and spent some time with you guys, because I kind of felt that I needed to. Once I finally got up to the attic and tried writing a spell I wasn't even sure would work, I'd convinced myself that I could do it. I copied down the spell from the book and before I knew it I was in 2001. Everything was so familiar; the voices, the conversation, I watched myself clutch on to mom, and then I saw Shax again. It made me want to scream. Then, I made every endeavor possible to read that spell, I tried to hard and I could see it was working but once I started thinking about Aunt Paige I started wondering, y'know? God, she's so much like Mom, what if she told herself it was better not to find us for our sakes? What if I didn't have a chance to fix it because I forgot all about her? I couldn't do it at the thought of losing everything we accomplished. No matter what effort I put into reading that spell I just couldn't do it, I couldn't! I mean, what if we lost Wyatt, and Chris too? What if everything was an alternate reality? For all I knew, Death would have come back for Mom. So I let her die. I stood by and watched as that evil being threw my mother through a wall, as he threw _you _through that very same wall Aunt Piper! And I didn't do a damn thing about it!"

The streak was broken and Pattie felt her strength collapse. She couldn't hold her own weight and Phoebe, who'd hung so carefully on every word Pattie had just said, did absolutely nothing to try and calm her. There wasn't a point, Pattie wasn't going to be able to compose herself for anyone.

Sometimes the person just had to cry.

And now both Piper and Phoebe were tearing up along with her from seeing Pattie in so much pain, from thinking about how much Prue's death had stolen from them.

Piper scooted closer to Pattie and Phoebe, wrapping one arm securely around Phoebe's shoulders and using the other to hold Pattie. Vaguely, she could still feel the sensation of her bones breaking as she slammed directly through the wall of her own home. Once and awhile it still killed to come face to face with it. Most of the time those recollections could be buried far back in her mind. This was the unfortunate exception.

"Pattie, I'm so sorry," Piper told her, focusing on her niece's emerald green and now bloodshot eyes.

"Huh? Why?" Pattie whimpered through her sobs, barely able to speak. "I brought it on."

"You think wanting your mother back means you deserve to watch her killed in front of your own eyes?" inquired Piper, astonished by Pattie's comment. She'd never seen her niece so distraught. Shax had obliterated her innocence and her conscience was now defeating whatever little confidence remained. Pattie nodded somberly, pressing her face into Phoebe's shoulder. "Oh, God, Pattie—" but Pattie cut her off.

"No, Aunt Piper, no! I can't believe myself for this. I should've done something more. If I were as powerful as I keep hearing I am, if I'm supposed to be this 'carbon copy' of my mother, why can't I solve things like she did?"

"First off, you are not your mother," Phoebe told her, wiping her eyes.

"Well you two sure have got it implanted in my head that I am," Pattie shrieked back, facing Phoebe with fiery eyes. "It's all you ever say, you don't think I don't try to live up to her legendary status?" She groaned, knowing very well that she'd never be her mother. No one was Prue except Prue.

Pattie had forgotten, prior to her outburst, that she'd never told either of her aunts before how much she resented the constant reminders of her mother. It was a touchy subject, and for the sake of family peace, she had avoided telling them. But it all came flooding out now. At the wrong time.

Phoebe, her eyes teeming with guilt, dropped her jaw, taken aback. "Pattie…we don't want you to be your mother. We'd never expect that. Not me, not Piper, especially not Paige."

"Of course Aunt Paige doesn't!" Pattie yelled without hesitating, "she's spent too many years trying to do the same damn thing! It doesn't matter what your voice says, your eyes tell a completely different story! God, Aunt Phoebe, I love you but how do you not know it? How do you not realize that by telling me that I'm like her every single solitary day that you've pressured me into the place of trying to fill her shoes even more than I was already worrying about it? Aunt Paige just stopped trying a couple years ago, she knew it was pointless," Pattie ranted, remembering the times Paige had a heavy heart after failing a potion Prue had been successful with or falling short in magic and being reminded the eldest sister had once possessed the power to complete the very task.

"Paige, never—" Piper began, trying to prove something to herself. "I mean she would have—"

"Told you?" Pattie spit back. "Why would she have done that? I mean, come on, it was so obvious that yes, you loved her, but you would have traded Mom for her in a heartbeat. At least that's how she saw it. Jeez, I know your sister better than you do!"

She'd turned to anger out of desperation, but Pattie couldn't stop. Sooner or later this had to come out.

"You know she misses Mom, right? I mean, you've told her stories before but I've done the majority of it. She didn't just cease to exist once she died. Aunt Paige knows basically nothing from you. She actually cries on the anniversary of Mom's death sometimes, or her birthday. And Aunt Paige never cries," Pattie told them.

Maybe she was going too far, but her anger was melting. Pattie was right though, in the seven years they'd known her Paige had been a stone when it came to emotions, just as Prue had. It took a lot to break her thick exterior and when it did that was dangerous. Piper and Phoebe were both ready to explode with their newly discovered faults by now, and Pattie wasn't feeling any better about that. She'd tried to propel her own guilt away, but had done a less than satisfying job at it.

"She…does?" Piper asked, remembering Paige's face from earlier again, and her newly vowed promise to make things better. She glances towards Phoebe, who wasn't taking that any better.

Pattie nodded, her face softening with realization. "Oh, god…I _am _turning into her," Pattie stuttered combing her fingers through her hair as it dawned on her, the full out anger she'd just relinquished on her aunts and how Prue would often do the same; once you got her on a roll she wouldn't stop until she was done on her own terms. Sinking down further into the rocks, she whispered softly. "I'm going to end up like her."

Phoebe and Piper took their heads out of their own thoughts to face Pattie. "What?" Phoebe asked.

"I'm going to end up just like her," Pattie whispered again, a haunting chill in her voice.

Nervously, as if Pattie might bite, Phoebe leaned forward towards her nieces, settling Pattie back into her arms again. "No, Pattie, you're not," she promised, kissing the top of her head. "I swear to you, you will not end up like her, okay?" she questioned, waiting for her niece to agree, but Pattie just looked back at her with skepticism. "Listen, I'm so sorry that we hurt you, and I can't fix that mistake, but we can correct it. If it hurts you for us to relate you to your mom, we won't do it as much. And Piper and I are going to set things straight with Paige, too, all right?" Pattie nestled closer to Phoebe, securing her own arms around Phoebe's waist, which showed her genuine believe that they finally did understand, things were going to change. "Sweetheart, I want you to remember this for the rest of your life okay? I heard you talking to the Angel of Death, so I know that you are aware that destiny can't be altered. There was nothing you could have done to save your mom, and if going back was what it took for you to finally comprehend and accept that, then I guess there's no arguing with that," Phoebe smiled trying to get Pattie to do the same.

Piper spoke up, "You made the Ultimate sacrifice for your aunt, your cousins, our innocents, even Billie."

"Even for yourself. I don't know if you can see that now," Phoebe put in.

"I betrayed Aunt Paige, how could I ever put Mom before her? That's wrong, I don't care if she's my mother or not, I shouldn't have been ready to trade her for Mom. That's why I'm selfish," she explained, her face reddening.

"Did you go through with it?" Piper responded and when Pattie gave her a glare, motioning to everything around them as a sign that she obviously didn't, Piper continued, "well then there you go, no betrayal. Honey, actions speak much louder than words. Think about that, and then talk to Paige."

"Isn't she mad at me?"

"Why do you think that?" Phoebe wondered.

"Because of what Sandra said. She must have got it. She didn't come with you guys," Pattie pointed out.

"That's not because she's mad at you!" Piper replied immediately, feeling for her niece, who really did think her actions warranted a permanent consequence of some kind, that it was all her fault. "We told her to stay behind to take care of this situation about your Mom first, then we'd sort it out together. Oh, sweetie, she was so worried about you I think she needed some time to rest after all she did to look for you anyway," Piper finished, staring Pattie straight in the eye to show her sincerity.

Pattie glanced up, shocked, "What'd she do?"

Now Phoebe joined in, a clever smile drawing a line across her face, "Well, she was ready to tear the Underworld apart in case we were wrong about the demons, then considered hassling the Elders for any information on your whereabouts. Paige was in the middle of scrying for the 7th time when Billie called us downstairs."

Finding herself smiling and feeling loved, Pattie automatically felt responsible for Paige's distress. "She loves me, will do anything to save me, and look how I repay her."

Phoebe sighed exasperatedly, teenagers really were stubborn. "Sweetie, you take too much blame for this."

"But it is my fault!" Pattie protested, flowing tears already creeping down her cheeks, "I mean, it was my fault mom died in the first place! I couldn't deal with it, so I tried to fix it. But I can't! I let my own mother die, then tried to trade my aunt for her. Why did I have to try to stop him? Why did I have to try to stop Shax from killing Dr. Griffiths?"

This was something else Piper nor Phoebe hadn't heard before. And it truly tore both of them to pieces to realize that this had been on Pattie's mind every day for the past seven years. How had that slipped their notice?

Pattie, already dissolved into Phoebe's arms, continued to cry as Piper explained to Phoebe exactly what had occurred the day Prue had been brutally murdered, seeing as she'd been stuck in the Underworld as a hopeful way to _save _her sisters. Talk about irony.

"I had no idea," Phoebe gasped, hardly able to grasp it. Seven years, she'd gone seven years without knowing that. No wonder Pattie's mental state was fried, she was driving herself crazy.

Of course, there'd never been the right time to bring something at critical as that up in conversation, Phoebe was curious if Paige knew, but didn't ask. The two seemed to be closer confidantes than she'd realized as well. Thankfully, seeing as Phoebe was at a loss of words, Piper stepped in. "Do you remember when your dad died, and your mother blamed herself for it? Both of you did." Pattie nodded, of course, she'd never forget that. "Well, I think that's kind of the same way you're feeling now. Both of your parents literally held your life more important than theirs, and that's something you should cherish forever.

"Don't feel guilty, Pattie. I remember that day, I remember how Dr. Griffiths was about to die and you distracted Shax with your cyrokinises. If it wasn't for that, we might have all been dead. You should be proud, not ashamed. You were seven, Pattie, the only seven-year-old I know who'd be that courageous. Prue loved you from the moment they put you in her arms on the day you were born, she promised to protect you no matter what, and she did. There aren't a lot of people who'd literally jump in front of a bullet, or in our case a demon, for someone else."

Pattie folded her hands together to keep them from shaking, but it fazed out as she listened to Piper's words, seeing that day in a whole new light. "I never thought of it that way before," she decided. "When I was home, Mom told me that too, about the protection. About how she loved me."

"Of course she did," Phoebe replied. "So as long as we're sharing, I can tell you that you weren't alone. I used to blame myself to."

This got Pattie's attention, "Really?"

"Phoebe!" Piper gasped.

"It's true. Or it was, at first. Because we made that deal to save Piper and by replaying time I wasn't there, and I lost Prue instead." Pattie was aware of the deal with Tempus, it'd saved her aunt. "But I realized that that was the way things were supposed to be. And I miss my sister more than anything on this Earth, but I didn't take part in her death."

"Neither did I," Pattie decided with finality, smiling when Phoebe kissed her, yet again, on the forehead.

"That's right," Piper told her.

"But Mom wanted me to tell you something," Pattie said, remembering the conversations she and Prue had shared at the park and then on the basement steps. Now she had their undivided attention. A message from Prue was a pure gift. "She said," Pattie began, "that it was okay to miss her, and she knows you don't know how to handle it, but sometimes you should talk about it, because it can be easier than suppressing it," Pattie parroted her mother's words, "she loves both of you so much. She wants us to know a part of her is always with is. And you have to see Aunt Paige for Aunt Paige, not Mom."

"Wise words, Prue," Piper murmured as she embrace Pattie.

"That's our sister," Phoebe provided.

Pattie finished her story. She supplied each moment with emotion leading up until she'd returned home. They talked about it, sitting on that rock, for over an hour. Both girls reminiscing with stories from their childhood, memories from Pattie's. It eased Pattie's grief, but she still thought about Paige and what she was going to say to her. "I love you guys so much," Pattie said as she cuddled between her two aunts once they'd concluded yet another story.

"We love you too, sweetheart," Piper told her, ruffling her hair.

Phoebe returned her hug and laughed. "Ditto," she replied. "I love you, kid."

When they'd begun preparing to leave, Pattie tilted her head back and looked into the now fully lit sky, jumping off the rock and walking towards the sea. "Give me a sign to know you're here, Mom, to let me know I can handle this without you," she prayed, joining her aunts as they headed for the car.

A seemingly hopeless situation brightened when Phoebe pointed to the sky, excitedly pointing out the hard to see but definitely forming rainbow stretching across the sky. It hadn't rained, but it was there, each colorful stripe illuminating the sky. Pattie climbed into the car and leaned her elbow against the window to prop her head up.

As it became more visible, she felt more confident, picturing Prue's face as she closed her eyes.

"I knew you'd come through for me, Mom."

**Could it be? Have I really posted a new chapter in under a week? No cliffhanger here really, but your opinions still mean a ton to me. This was originally going to be the last chapter, but this section alone spanned three times longer than I planned, so I cut one chapter into three, and I'll start the rest of it tomorrow. The next is mainly Paige-centric as you may have guessed. I appreciate any comments you have, even if it's just one simple word, but please, my hope is to reach at least 100 by the end of the story. Did this run too long for you and did you understand it? I really want to know. And I'm still taking suggestions for what you would like to see. I'll be including your requested scene, PiperPaigeP3, so look out for that next chapter. And thanks to Molly for all the support, love you girl! You guys are very helpful, thanks for all you do to keep me going. I'm a reviewaholic, keep me happy! The more reviews the sooner the next entry. **

**Megan**


	15. 14: One Final Goodbye

**I'm a terrible person! I've made you wait almost three weeks now! But here it is, freshly done and I think you'll like it a lot! It might be a tearjerker…**

_"Patricia Halliwell! If you don't get down here in five seconds, I'm leaving without you!"_

_Paige had called Pattie five times. In fact, she'd been standing at the bottom of the stairs for at least fifteen minutes now waiting for Pattie to appear at the top because not only she had missed the bus, but she hadn't even opened the door to her room that morning. Figuring her niece would realize her mistake and make some effort to hurry, she shooed both Piper and Phoebe out the door to be sure they'd be on time to work._

_Now, Paige was sincerely regretting it. Moaning as she pressed her palm to her forehead and trying to mull over her options, Paige decided she could wait ten more minutes and have both she and Pattie be even later, or sort the problem out head-on. She was still new to the whole aunt thing, but what problems could an eight-year-old possibly have?_

_A headache was already blossoming in the back of her head as Paige climbed the staircase and wandered down the upstairs hallway, stopping at Pattie's door and lingering a moment before she knocked. "Pattie?"_

_When there was no response and Paige had become increasingly worried, she gently pushed open the door to Pattie's bedroom and glanced around, surveying the room. It almost seemed that her niece was nowhere to be found until Paige noticed the bulge amid a pile of stuffed animals on the unmade bed; there was a tiny form curled up beneath the blankets. "Patricia," she scolded, walking towards the bed. Piper and Phoebe had told her this instilled some sort of incentive for Pattie to listen, but so far it'd done nothing. "Pattie, you missed the bus and I'll drive you to school but you have to get—" Paige froze when, as she was skimming the blankets for Pattie, felt the burning skin as she grazed the girl's forehead. "Oh, honey, why didn't you tell us you had a fever?"_

_Pattie was twisted into the fetal position clutching 'Waggles' the stuffed puppy and her baby blanket close to her chest and shivering. Paige reached out to run her fingers through Pattie's hair soaked with sweat. _

_"Go away," Pattie mumbled, delirious from the fever as she half-consciously waved her arms, slapping Paige back and then erupting into a fit of coughs. Paige knew why, this was the first time she'd been sick without Prue to take care of her, the sensation of loss was just adding to her misery. She and Paige had already been treading dangerous waters with Pattie's reluctance to accept her as family; the illness would make things worse._

_Sighing, Paige rose and withdrew from the room, only to return a few minutes later with a bottle of Tylenol Cold medicine for fever reduction and any other flu-like symptoms. When she measured the correct amount for one dose and tried to hand it to Pattie, the persistent child shoved it back at her so furiously the red goo almost spilled everywhere. "No!" Pattie screeched, thrashing on the bed and obscuring her face underneath the fuzzy comforter. "That's not how mommy does it!" she whined, confirming Paige's prior theory. Then, a minute later, "I want mommy!"_

_A light bulb went off in her head._

_Quickly, Paige left again, heading downstairs to the freezer, her bedroom, and then returning and plopping down on the mattress beside Pattie. "All right missy," she began with a hint of bribery, "let's make a deal here." She dropped the two movies 'The Little Mermaid' and 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' and watched as Pattie's head peeked out curiously and then her eyes lit up. _

_Paige revealed the carton of cookie dough ice cream from behind her back. It'd been hidden in the back of the freezer, her own secret stash. At this, Pattie even smiled. "How'd you know they were my favorites?"_

_"Because they were mine too when I was your age," Paige replied simply, beaming back at her niece. "Sometimes the movies still are, especially when I'm sick. Now, come on Pattie. You help me make you better, we can spend the day together. We'll do some auntie-niece bonding. Sound like a plan?"_

_She waited for what seemed like hours until Pattie finally grabbed the plastic cup of medicine, grimacing as she gulped it down and then crawled into Paige's arms while her aunt soothed her._

_Maybe they did have something in common._

_Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all._

Pattie rolled over on her bed as she stared at the 6 by 8 inch picture of her and Paige cuddled up on the couch, arms wrapped around each other. She was still in pajamas, the area was cluttered with ice cream and cold medication, and her face was slightly rosy from the virus, but both still had wide grins plastered across their faces.

A knock shook her from her thoughts and Pattie looked up at a door nervously. She hesitated at first, then forced herself to answer, "Come in." Sure enough, her worst fears were true.

Paige entered with a tray carefully gripped in both hands, a warm smile greeting her. "I thought you might be hungry," she offered, setting the tray on Pattie's desk. Edging across her bed to get a glimpse of the meal, Pattie was immediately confused when she saw the noodles drenched in bright yellow cheese.

"Mac and cheese?"

This wasn't a normal lunch. In fact, a common lunch wouldn't even have been delivered to her bedroom without call while she stayed at the Manor; Piper usually had sandwiches prepared or heated up chicken for her to eat. Macaroni and cheese was and had been Pattie's all time favorite food since she'd been a toddler; it was one of the few things she could eat daily and not tire of. But it was one thing Piper never made too much except the rare occasion where she was too exhausted to cook or wasn't home and Pattie had to make her own dinner.

Paige couldn't help but smile at Pattie's comment, but was able to tell her niece was pleased as she immediately scooped up a spoonful and shoved it in her mouth. "Piper and Phoebe went out to buy some supplies for our little family dinner tonight, and I can't make too much else on short notice."

Pattie resisted temptation to roll her eyes at the thought of dinner. Now that her aunts had parted ways and moved into separate homes, they saw much less of each other and tried to get together for at least one family meal a month, especially on special occasions. Pattie wasn't sure how much she cared about the dinners either way, she saw her aunts equally enough. When the time had come to decide where she'd reside, the decision had proved too difficult to make a choice for; she'd grown up with all three of her aunts, she simply wanted to see them all. Billie had come up with the idea, seeing as all three places were within the same town and school district Pattie could switch houses with each season. That way she'd alternate what holidays and other occasions she spent with her aunts each year and Pattie loved the suggestion, immediately going for it. She still saw all three regularly and was always babysitting, heading to one place because the primary family member couldn't pick her up, or just going to hang out, but for the sake of her family she dropped plans for the special occasions where all the Halliwells gathered to eat.

Now, as Pattie thought of them preparing a gourmet meal – to celebrate what, she wondered, the fact that a spell had gone awry and sent her back eight years where she almost made the biggest mistake of her life? – it made her appetite for dinner disappear. "Just thrilling," she moaned, completely uninterested, "family bonding."

"Well," Paige replied, watching Pattie devour the bowl in only a few minutes and then return to her position on her bed, "I thought maybe we could talk."

Talk? Pattie was numb from talking. She was still reeling from the discussion with her aunts that morning and hadn't exactly found a way to confront Paige with everything she was dying to say. Instead, diverting her attention from that subject, she recovered the photo she'd been gazing at and handed it to Paige.

"Do you remember that?" she asked, somewhat quietly.

Paige stared at it for a minute, her face contorting with confusion to where Pattie thought she didn't, but then her eyes sparked with recognition and Pattie knew she definitely did. She watched as Paige studied the detail of the photo, lost in the frozen second of time. Then, without a word, Paige stood and exited the bedroom.

Pattie immediately wondered what she'd done wrong. Had it been something she said? Something she did? But her mind wasn't left to wonder long because Paige came prancing back in, returning to Pattie's desk chair, and pulling out the cookie dough ice cream from behind her back. "You didn't," Pattie giggled.

"Ah, though it may seem that way, yes my darling niece, I did," she returned the happy grin, speaking with a tone of fake wisdom in her voice and Pattie laughed harder. She'd always loved when her aunt used phony voices to kid around with her, but as Pattie reached for the carton, Paige quickly pulled it out of her grasp. "Ah, ah, ah, not so fast," she taunted, "we're going to talk about what happened and _then _you can have the ice cream."

It sounded as if she were an eight year old child again. Pattie felt like she was being patronized and at the thought of it, turned away from Paige, overcome. "Whatever," she mumbled angrily.

Paige frowned; she'd hoped Pattie would open up as she always did. Bribery may have been childish but it always worked. Well, almost always. "Come on, sweetie. We've always told each other everything right?"

Pattie nodded soberly, searching for something to keep her eyes on rather than Paige. "I guess."

"Well then what happened that made you such a "horrible niece", huh? What do you think you did that was so terrible?" Pattie shook her head miserably, but Paige set the ice cream aside and joined Pattie on the bed. She cuddled Pattie closely in her hold. "I hate to see you like this, sweetheart," Paige informed her.

"You're gonna hate _me_ if I tell you."

"I could never," Paige promised, gently running her fingers up and down Pattie's arm in a comforting way.

"I'm such a screw-up," she grumbled, worming her way out of Paige's clutch and instead hunting for the nearest pillow to hug.

"Don't insult my niece, only I can do that," Paige scolded lightly, an attempt to see Pattie smile.

"Ha ha, I'm cracking up," Pattie muttered without an inch of pleasure. When Paige eyed her with curiosity she just sighed, shrugged and fiddled with her comforter. "You don't want to know yet, trust me."

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't," she was reminded. "Besides, I think I can take it." It was no use; Pattie only began to cry when she even thought about what she needed to tell Paige. She remembered what Piper had basically inscribed into her mind, the pieces of advice that had only alleviated the guilt temporarily. "There is nothing in this world you could do to me that would make me hate you, Pattie," Paige spoke up, spotting another picture in the pile of her and Pattie at her thirteenth birthday party, all smiles. Why did that seem so distant now?

Pattie continued to whimper but Paige didn't make a move to comfort her at the risk of being slapped away. She watched, painfully, as the teenager fell apart. "Oh yeah? What if I told you I almost chose mom over you?"

Right about then, Paige felt her heart skip a beat.

"I warned you," Pattie murmured under her breath, wiping her eyes with the pillowcase and staining it with tears. It was way too late to try to take it back now.

So, she gave in.

Pattie told Paige each miniscule detail of her trip back to 2000, even more so than she'd done with Piper and Phoebe if that were possible. She described the way the fabric on the scarf had felt, the way the darkness of the park felt like it was drowning her. Paige, her mind inundated by Pattie's first sentence, listened along while nodding at the right moments and putting in her own comments here or there. Pattie didn't look at her aunt while she spoke to deflect any emotion transmitted through her eyes. If she didn't feel anything, it'd be easier to get through.

Around her Pattie began to visualize the scenes she was depicting. She closed her eyes and pictured her attic whilst she summoned Patty or the basement as the back of her legs brushed up against the cold cement. Listening for her mother's voice and imagining the comfort of her caress built more sorrow when she finished her explanation and Pattie's eyes fluttered open to remember that she was no longer in 2000.

Paige didn't say anything.

Pattie still hadn't gotten up the courage to face her aunt head on, she felt Paige's eyes bearing into her skin but she couldn't, for the life of her, turn around. "I knew it," Pattie spoke to the silence, "you hate me. I mean I completely understand, what I did was—"

A tap on the shoulder interrupted her and with one deep breath she swung around to face Paige.

She was crying.

It was the kind of tears that were pocketed in the corners of her eyes, not quite ready to show yet, but there were water marks, little meanders down her cheeks that proved she had shed at least a few. Pattie had said it herself before, Paige never cried. "Stop ranting and come here," Paige summoned, but Pattie was unrelenting. If anything, she cowered back further. "Honey, just come here and give me a hug. I won't bite."

Before her paranoia could get the best of her, Pattie's senses allowed her to relinquish herself to Paige. She threw herself into the woman's arms, sobbing apologies into Paige's blouse which was soaked with tears. The moan of her own crying shaded Pattie from whatever her aunt was trying to tell her, but when Pattie picked up two very misplaced words, she snapped back into the conversation.

Paige had just thanked her.

For what? Had they been listening to the same story? "Why would you thank me? Weren't you listening? I was going to give you up for mom! You could have disappeared forever, never known us. Is that what you wanted?"

Paige, in spite of herself, couldn't hide the flowering smile. She touched Pattie's face tenderly, noting her incredulous stare. "Of course not, Pattie. I love you with all my heart," she declared. "You could have done all that. It would have been the easy thing. But the fact that you're sitting here in my arms right now says one thing. You didn't."

_Piper's voice played back in her head __"Did you go through with it?" And when Pattie shook her head, no, "Well then there you go, no betrayal. Honey, actions speak much louder than words."_

"Pattie," Paige's voice broke through the thought bubble. Pattie shifted her gaze up to face her. "Listen to yourself. You're making yourself sick over this. Why are you focusing all the blame on yourself, here?"

"Because!" Pattie protested. "I've known since the day she died that I couldn't bring her back. Yet, I let my disparity break me to the point where I'd convinced myself that not only could I save you, I could save mom. I knew I was making a giant risk at that, and I went ahead with it anyway."

Paige had been a social worker. She'd studied the correct way to deal with guilt harboring itself in children. Trying to fix the information back in her head, Paige searched for the correct answer. "Death and grief make us do crazy things, you know. Our subconscious takes over. I lost my parents too, remember? I know what it's like to spend every day wishing you can have someone back, even if it's not an option."

Pattie shivered a bit. "Yeah."

"And I know that things will be okay. Your mother told me so," Paige replied, matter-of-factly.

Pattie's eyes shot up at her as if she didn't comprehend. Had Paige just said what her ears had heard? "Mom?" Paige nodded. "_My_ mother?" And then, Paige laughed, automatically silencing herself as if she thought that was the wrong move to make. Pattie tried to recreate the words she'd told Prue. _Tell her yourself._ Had Prue really done just that? "Why have you never told me this before?"

A flash of something simmered in Paige's eyes as the memory burned in her mind. "Because," Paige dictated simply, grabbing the container of ice cream and pulling the cover off. "I wasn't meant to. She told me to wait until something happened that brought you to me."

Wait, Pattie mulled the word over. Yes, that made sense. "And now it has."

"Precisely," Paige handed a spoon to Pattie and dug her own deep into the frozen treat. Pattie followed, watching as the metal glided in between the icy crystals of milk and cream. The ice cream tasted sweet on her tongue, despite the initial bitter cold. "So should I start this story off with 'Once Upon a Time'?" Paige giggled, licking the spoon clean and watching a gentle smile appear on Pattie's face.

"Only if you're going to tell me about how you and Mom visited the land of flowers and pretty butterflies," Pattie mused, illustrating an imagined butterfly with her hands.

"Not so much," Paige returned the smirk. "But where we met, it was beautiful. Hell, it still is."

_It was raining; the kind of rain where the raindrops would come down in sheets at first, like a hole had torn a hole from the clouds in the sky and released an ocean of water as it did. Then, gradually, as it created streams in the crevices of the boulders and stones piles one on top of the other in the mountains, would it die down, reducing to a light rainfall before suddenly things would shift gears again, like the clouds would spring another leak._

_It'd been a rough day for Paige. At twenty four, she'd had to struggle every bit to make it where she was now. And for what? To be a lousy assistant at a job she often hated and let herself get stepped on a little more each day no matter how hard she worked to engrave her face in her boss's mind. _

_Okay, so maybe it wasn't that bad, but her day had still sucked majorly. _

_She'd been trying to raise her position to the status of social worker for a long time now, and while some attempts had brought success, others just threw the endless hours of slaving over a case back in her face. There were those days where like 'Murphy's' luck, everything would go wrong if there was the slightest chance._

_Well, today was one of those days._

_It'd started off with the case of a little girl, age ten, who'd run away claiming abuse from her mother's boyfriend. The bruises and fragile psyche confirmed her story in Paige's eyes, but the poor child couldn't catch a break. Paige had searched desperately for any available shelters or foster homes but they had each led her to a dead end. Although she'd finally reached one facility, the parent had done all she could to waive her rights as a legal guardian, swearing the man was out of her life, but even Paige could see past the seemingly flawless exterior. Social services had gone in her favor though and Paige had watched as the child kicked and fought, hoping for any escape route but failing miserably, and then suffering a mental breakdown. Wasn't that enough prove she shouldn't go?_

_Then there was a set of twins who were being placed in separate homes due to the system, a teenage boy caught in the crossfire between a set of feuding parents who fell down the stairs, another little boy orphaned by a house fire who only wanted to get into a good school for his education and three toddlers whose mother was too strung up to take care of them and were now suffering homesickness._

_Why was the world so cruel?_

_She'd been one of the lucky ones, to be adopted by a loving family; it'd been part of what possessed her to go into social work to begin with. But those parents weren't alive to go to tonight, and as there wasn't a man waiting desperately for her because Glen was out of town, she'd come to the one place she'd ever truly loved._

_It was a little hideaway at the edge of the Golden Gate Park, amidst the trees and sheltered off from civilization. She'd wandered upon it by chance late in high school and used it as an escape from the pressures of everything. The soft lull of the running water and the chirps of different birds colored the area with serenity. Paige wasn't normally a worshipper of all things nature, but something about the thriving areas of foliage, blossoming around boulders and out of branches just calmed her. _

_Now that May had finally come and the climate was soaring to remarkably warm temperatures, the shrubbery was growing at a rapid rate. Paige liked that especially, it shielded her more from the outside world. No one knew about this mystical shell of nature._

_Or at least she thought no one knew._

_"Hey there," she called out, her voice frail and shaking as she'd never been one for dealing with strangers._

_The woman jumped, clearly startled and turned to face Paige. "Oh, hi," she mumbled back, only briefly meeting her eyes until she realized who she was staring at, then her eyes dilated so wide Paige could see how crystal blue they really were. She scooted over on the large rock, "Would you like to sit?"_

_Paige didn't, really. She wanted to scream. She wanted to wade into the small pond from which the river trailed up to her knees because she was already soaking wet and didn't mind facing the numbness._

_But something coursing in her veins compelled her to sit beside this stranger as if they were old friends._

_The woman had a fierce gaze in her eyes as she scanned Paige from head to toe and Paige speculated over the reason why it might matter what she looked like. They were both drenched by the showers. This woman's long chestnut hair was streaked with water and she peeled it from her back, wringing it uselessly as the droplets dribbled down from the fringed ends of her hair. "The weather's lovely," Paige offered, just to break the silence._

_"I like it," the woman replied, a thick coated tone in her voice which Paige couldn't read. She stared to the sky, a few scattered raindrops falling into her eyes and clouding her vision. "Rain means clouds and clouds cover the sun," she began explaining._

_Paige took over. "And without the sun you can't see how much time passes."_

_The woman looked up, surprised. "How'd you know that?" But Paige just shrugged, passing off the shared knowledge that she felt the same way. As if they shared thoughts. _Or blood, _Prue pondered. "I've never shared that with anyone before," she admitted, still not dropping her defenses completely._

_They sat for a few unspoken minutes and Paige considered leaving entirely before it became too awkward, but she was rooted to her spot. And then, a strange thing happened. The woman presented her hand for an introduction, "I'm Prue," she said managing some friendliness despite her mood. "Prue Halliwell."_

_Halliwell? Like Piper Halliwell who owned the club where she'd partied on more than one occasion? Like Patty Halliwell, the woman who all signs pointed to as her biological mother? Could it really be true?_

_As if by magic, Prue seemed to read her thoughts. "My sister owns P3, if that's what you're thinking."_

_"Yes, actually," Paige found herself answering, completely in awe and trying not to show it. "I'm…I'm Paige."_

_"I know," Prue revealed as they shook hands. Their handshake held an odd feeling of familiarity._

_"You know?" now utterly confused, Paige gasped before she could control her nerves._

_"I do." Her reply was very calm and stretched out as if it'd been rehearsed so that when she said it she didn't screw up and make a fool of herself or Paige. Bumping into Paige on this night hadn't been planned, she'd expected to see her here the following day, but now was as good as any time. "You see, I made my daughter a promise. I promised her that I would pass on a message so that I could be sure that it was delivered accurately. So that after I'm gone you'll be prepared."_

_None of this made any sense at all to Paige. Without even being conscious of it, she slid a few inches further away from Prue as if she was a venomous snake ready to bite._

_But the poison was already beginning to sink in. The truth. Her real family. Magic._

_"I thought I could do this rationally, but I don't think with magic there's ever much of a rational way," Prue rambled to the point where she wasn't sure Paige was steady enough to listen._

_"M..magic?" she stuttered, semi-curious but even more fearful._

_"I don't have long, Paige. I don't know how long I do have, but I think I put this off long enough. Something in me is realizing that I'm not going to be around soon and I need to fix this mess before it even begins. You need to know this, so listen up, okay?" She had that big sister tone in her voice that Paige had never before heard, being an only child. But something about it snapped Paige back to reality, and trying to remain alert, Paige nodded warily. "We are family, Paige. You and I. You and our sisters. And your time is coming as mine draws to a close. Truth is, I'm going to miss you, Paigey, even though I never got a chance to know you and I'm sorry for that. But your destiny is about to begin and you will be powerful, one of the greatest witches out there now, though that may seem hard to grasp for you. I know this is just bombarding you with information, but I wanted you to be ready so that when they come looking, when our sisters attract you to them, you can accept your place in the family."_

_She cupped her sister's disbelieved cheek in her hand and began to confess everything to her, "No matter what our sisters say or what they do, just try to remember that you are your own person. Don't go looking for ways to replicate my existence because you aren't supposed to. Our sisters will love you for you, especially your beautiful niece. She needs you, Paige. We all do. I do, too."_

_Her warming smile didn't last as Paige suddenly pulled away and kicked at the soil, her shoes sinking in the mud. Neither of them realized how much they were immersed by the water._

_"How do you feel?" Prue asked, realizing how much that sounded like a psychiatrist after she said it._

_"How do I _feel_?" Paige screeched, causing Prue to cower back temporarily. "You just sat down and told me in less than five minutes that you're my sister and apparently I'm going to have some sort of magical power, like you can predict the future. Do you expect me to believe that?"_

_With stoic composure, Prue stood and wrapped an arm around her shivering sister who had rose with bitter anger and confusion and was now steaming. She gently nudged her to sit again and they sank down together, although Paige was greatly shaken by the whole confession and wasn't too sure she wasn't to be around Prue._

_Prue understandingly brushed a stray curl from Paige's eyes. "No, I don't expect you to believe it," she defended Paige's words and actions. "I mean, why would you? It's completely crazy to even think about, let alone live."_

_Feeling like her world was spinning; Paige glanced at Prue for a second. "I'm sorry, but I just can't comprehend what you're saying as the truth. Us being sisters, maybe. I mean, we do look alike, I'll give you that."_

_"We do," Prue agreed._

_"But magic? Jeez it's like I'm going back to the Halloween stories I'd hear as a kid of the witches flying around on their broomsticks cackling all day long and casting spells." To Paige, it all sounded ridiculous._

_"Well, we have broomsticks but they stay in the closet with the rest of the cleaning appliances. And one of my – our sisters can do a pretty good imitation of a cackling witch, but we do cast spells," she offered, propping a smile on her face in effort to receive one from Paige. Realizing she'd gone too far, Prue quickly backed up. "Paige, you don't have to believe it now if you don't want. But you will, when I'm not here and you're needed. I wish we'd known about you sooner, because trust me we'd have tracked you down had we had the slightest clue we had another sister, but my death will trigger what brings you to our sisters."_

_As Prue's words continued to sink in, Paige marveled over the fact that Prue was so content with the apparent impending end of her life. It was hard to wrap her mind around that fact that this person, her sister, was sitting right in front of her. And soon, she'd be dead? How could she know this without…no, not magic._

_It wasn't that Paige didn't believe there was some realm of possibility. It just seemed that with her track record, anything magical wasn't following her around. Magic was distant, it would never be a part of her._

_"So you just know you're going to die and I'll never get to really know you? You just get taken away from everything, no questions asked? That's completely unfair!" Paige whined and she didn't care how childish it sounded._

_"Unfair? Of course it is! It sucks," Prue agreed, joining her in self-pity. Then she looked up at her sister. "But what sucks more is that we can't do a damn thing about it except to…accept it sooner or later." _

_"So I'm just never going to see you again after this?"_

_"Never say never with Halliwells, magic holds a unique amount of opportunities."_

_She took Paige in her embrace and Paige didn't fight her whether or not she was really sure this woman was telling her the truth. Prue held her as tight as she could._

_"It will all be okay, because I love you, baby sister. That won't ever change," she whispered into Paige's ear. Then, when they separated, she stood and walked the opposite way, leaving Paige in the rain to face her future, without looking back._

Pattie had become so engrossed in the story she was saddened when it stopped, now cuddled into Paige's arms and still downing the ice cream although her stomach was beginning to hurt. "Wow," she whispered quietly, feeling closer to Paige than ever before. "So you really met her, huh?"

"Yep," Paige said back, still lost in her own memory.

"Aunt Piper and Aunt Phoebe know how we feel about being her replacements, I'm sorry I let it slip," she blurted out as she thought of the things Prue had told Paige. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she ruffled Pattie's hair. "I'm not."

"We need to take her advice, don't we?" Pattie inquired, staring up at Paige with teary eyes, looking not a day older than seven or eight. It made Paige want to hug her more. She just nodded. "Well then I need to get one last cry in. I need to talk to her, and tell her some things. And I need you to be there."

Paige didn't have to wait for Pattie to ask, she knew what the request would be. So, setting aside the dishes of melting ice cream, she grabbed a hold of Pattie and disappeared in a shimmering group of orbs.

When they reappeared in the mausoleum, all was still and desolate.

The sun had left only a thin rim of golden glow along the horizon and there wasn't much light for Pattie to use, but once she saw the plaque which sat in front of her mother's burial site, she didn't even need it. Breaking free of Paige, she ran towards the sign and began to slam her fists into it.

"Mom!" she screamed, breaking down. "Mom! I don't know how much longer I can do this! I know I'm supposed to move on but I need you! I don't know how to move on, Mom! God, I just can't!"

Paige couldn't help but notice she resembled Piper from the day she'd been transformed into a fury and her anger had finally submerged. Pattie was facing the peak of her emotions head on, and all Paige could do was watch.

Her feet slipped out from underneath her and Pattie was on her knees, still crying to the heavens above her. "Just send her to me one last time! Please!" But they both knew Prue wasn't coming.

She sobbed so loud that Paige couldn't stand it anymore. Approaching Pattie, she kneeled down and wrapped her arms around Pattie, so distraught and fragile. Pattie didn't even try to worm free or yank away, she just used Paige's shoulder as something to cry into, muffling the sound but not reducing the extent of it.

"I know I was supposed to learn my lesson, but I just need one last time," she tried to explain to Paige, as if to make sense of it in her head. "She's not coming though, she can't. I want to be happy, Aunt Paige. I just need a last bit of salvation. I just want my mother. I want her so bad."

"I know you do, sweetie, I know," she soothed, a steady flow of tears coming from her own eyes now.

"I just want her, just want—" Pattie fell back into Paige's shoulder, her pleas fading out.

"I've got you," she told Pattie, but did not say it was okay, because she'd have been lying. Pattie needed this, she needed to get her cries out now to grow and move on later. "Just let it out, there's no rush."

And she did. Until it became dark and they couldn't see each other's faces anymore and Paige was tired from humming to her a calming tune she'd sung to Chris to get him to sleep. She didn't stop, barely enough to breath, and murmured words of disparity out of context, begging but with no response. Paige knew Pattie was well aware she wasn't going to get Prue. So seven years of cooped up emotions came flooding out. And Pattie didn't stop.

She cried.

--

Hours and hours later after dinner, after meaningless talk with her family, Pattie had remembered. She'd calmed enough, even begun laughing while her family told stories. But when she found herself thinking about her mother, she'd remembered what she'd forgotten.

The surprise Prue had promised her.

It had to be waiting for her in Prue's boxes in the attic. So now, there they were, all of them.

"So what exactly _are_ we looking for?" Paige asked, tossing another antique out of her way as the entire family searched aimlessly through the packed cardboard boxes. They were strewn out in corners and piles all about the attic, each one with some type of label written in large sharpie marker across the sides. Some were old, rotting away, corners chewed away by mice. The once bold strokes of black ink were fading, almost illegible now. Some of the boxes were dated, years moving backwards all the way until the 1920's.

As Pattie sifted through the packages, reading the words scribbled across each one, she could barely believe how many memories they actually held. "Anything of mom's," she confirmed, laughing as she read the child's handwriting, wavy and large, running diagonally down the side. "Aunt Piper, is this your stuff?" she queried, passing it to Piper, who scanned the material with a smile of her own.

"I'm surprised you could even read that," Piper admitted, tossing her head behind her as she started to rip the box open, finding a treasury of school projects and old stuffed animals inside.

"Well," Pattie began, retrieving a box of her own items, labeled 'Pattie's Baby Stuff', "I don't have an Aunt Pepper so I kind of figured." Piper pushed her playfully, reading over the writing again and realizing that, as an eight-year-old, she had mistakenly added an extra P and her I was so looped it looked like an E.

"I guess Leo didn't marry you for your smarts, huh?" Phoebe kidded and everyone laughed, including Wyatt, who was now scouring through a box of his old baby clothes, astonished he'd ever been small enough to fit into them. Leo planted a kiss on Piper's forehead for encouragement, but she was laughing along with everyone else. It seemed so unordinary for this to be going on, basking in the memories without any worry of demon attacks.

Pattie gasped when she noticed the small quilt folded neatly on the bottom of her box, hidden beneath everything else. Every person looked her way, watching as she unhurriedly recovered it from the box, setting it on her lap. The blanket, sewn very carefully from different pieces of fabric had been crafted special for Pattie while Prue was pregnant. It seemed all Prue had done was work on that missing rainbow scarf and blanket.

"That's the one Prue made you, isn't it?" Phoebe asked, already knowing what the answer to her question would be. Pattie unfolded the sides of it, realizing that there was something encased between the fabric. "What's that?" Phoebe asked aloud, but Pattie still didn't answer.

It was a velvet rectangular box which Prue had kept objects of Patty's in. Pattie remembered it clearly because she's adored the box as a child, even though Prue hadn't often allowed her to touch it. There'd be a few occasions though where Pattie had crawled into bed on a late night and cuddled with Prue. They were vulnerable nights for her mother, the anniversary of Patty's death, or her birthday, and she removed the few pictures of scattered dates, a half-used lipstick, a note once left on the refrigerator, a locket. Pattie had saved items of the same variety of Prue's. She lifted open the box in the silent attic and nearly dropped the top out of shock.

Under her breath, she exclaimed in a whisper, "Oh my god."

"Envelopes?" Piper asked curiously, leaning over to catch a glimpse of what Pattie was seeing.

"Letters," Henry corrected her as Chris toddled over to him and sat down in his lap.

"From Mom," Pattie clarified. "Look at these," she spoke more to herself as she shuffled through them, reading the inscriptions on the front of each. "16th birthday, 18th, 21st, high school and college graduations, wedding, first child. It's like she's found a way to put a little bit of herself into the best moments of my life."

Paige grinned a little more, feeling lighter at the pleasant grin on her niece's face. "You always said she was creative, I guess she's just confirming your words there."

"Is there one for you to read now?" Leo asked. Surely Prue wouldn't provide all this and forget the most important occasion, her homecoming to 2008. It'd drive Pattie crazy; her sixteenth birthday was months away.

But Prue came through as always. There were at least 20 letters, but one of them was exactly what she was looking for. Pattie pulled the very first out of the box, closing the top and setting it aside. "When you get home," Pattie read aloud, looking up for the reactions everyone was presenting.

"Well?" Phoebe was just as anxious to hear Prue's words. "Go ahead."

"Yeah," Coop put it, "Read it."

So Pattie did. She ripped into the paper and pulled out a neatly folded letter, taking in Prue's beautiful crisp handwriting. That alone was enough to make her miss her mother.

But from inside, along with the letter, fell a locket and three beautiful snapshots. It had been Prue's locket

_Dear Pattie,_

_If you're reading this right here and now, I assume you must have gotten home safely, which is a blessing in its own. I hope you are surrounded by our family, the people I love and the ones I never got the chance to know. That was the point of this whole mystery surprise, to get you stubborn Halliwells in one room so I could tell you everything I needed to, especially you Pattie._

_You've only been gone a few hours now, maybe four or five, and the sun is beginning to set here. I quickly wrote and cast a memory loss spell after you were gone and your poor aunts don't remember a thing about what happened. As far as I can tell, neither does your younger self. I've just settled little you down into bed to take a nap because you're exhausted and I thought it'd be the perfect time to sit down and start writing to you. I got this idea when you told me that you felt I was guiding you from the after life, maybe I can somehow with these. _

_I know how much you're hurting right now, how much you'd love to blame yourself for this whole mess, but I think magic's got a bigger part to play. It makes us vulnerable, doesn't it? I know, trust me Pattie, I do. But as I'm sure your aunts have already told you, it's time to take that weight off your shoulders. It's time to let yourself move on. Be happy. And don't do it for me or for anyone else, do it for you. You are the greatest thing in my life, and if there's any piece of me that you need to hold on to the most, it's yourself. I'm sure you've harbored an assortment of my old things to protect, but you are my flesh and my blood and you need to protect yourself to, become whole again. Let your family love you, don't worry about your future just focus on the present. You're the next in a long line of Halliwell women and no matter how much of me you may posses, you're still yourself and that's all I'll ever want of you, to remain true to your own personality. _

_Piper and Aunt Phoebe, it's time to let go. It's time to let yourselves see my daughter and our sister for the wonderful people they are. Be sad, but don't lock away my memory. Share it, with Paige and Pattie and your children, because they need to know about the past. I love you both with everything in my heart. _

_Paige, it may have slipped from Pattie who you were, but I'm glad I know now. My precious baby sister, I wish could have been given the time to get better acquainted, but it will come some day. So until then I'll be waiting._

_I'll never forget the first time they put you in my arms, Patricia. You were so beautiful, staring up at me with those curious eyes, and I wondered how I'd ever been so lucky. I was afraid to raise you, but I didn't have to worry, because you helped to raise me a little bit too, you helped me be strong. I'll never forget the way your little curls bounced when you were a toddler and I'd tie it into pigtails or the smile on your face at your first dance recital. Our memories are very special, so hold on to them so you can tell my grandchildren one day._

_I love you, sweetheart. And I'm with you, always._

_Love,_

_Mom_

**I'm going to leave you with this short and sweet message. There's one chapter left and the epilogue and I'm sad to be parting this story but it's been an awesome ride. I'm hoping to reach 100 reviews with this, can you help me? You guys are awesome!**

**Megan**


	16. 15: Inspiration Never Dies

Note: This is told in Pattie's point of view and has a lot of fluff in it

_Note: This is told in Pattie's point of view and has a lot of fluff in it. I love just pointless fun family scenes and I hope you do too! The beginning is mostly just catching you up in the Halliwells lives and Pattie dealing with her wacky family. I tried to spice it up with comedy, but that's not my strong suit so I'd like it if you could tell me what you thought of any. Anyway, the end is a very awesome twist you never saw coming, even though I've been hinting towards it in the vaguest of ways the entire book._

**Setting: **Four months later: September 2008

The first few months after I found that letter, I read it every night just as my eyes were becoming so heavy that it was only a matter of minutes until I would pass out. And each morning, though I fell asleep with the paper tightly clasped in one fist, it was always resting on the nightstand when I woke up and I was always covered with my blankets. This process repeated continuously as I always told myself I'd remember to put the letter down before I let my exhaustion get the better of me, yet I never did. While reading, I studied the words so carefully; the way the ink was drabbled on the paper and the curvy scripture of my mother's cursive writing that soon enough I no longer needed the letter in front of me to be able to read it. I could recite her carefully chosen phrases by memory. Yet every evening I still held it in front of my face to try to take in more of the most intricate details, as if just to prove there had ever been a letter to begin with.

It was an unspoken gratitude between my aunt and I. She never mentioned removing the letter from my hand to tuck me in each night, sometimes at one or two in the morning, and I never woke up to see her. I guess it was just some sort of mutual understanding that didn't really need to be addressed.

For my sixteenth birthday, I will get another letter. My birthday is in late October, and it is early September now, so although it's just over a month to wait, I'm anticipating that moment with each passing second. Mom wrote at least 20 of them, stretching out over the long era of my life, and though I think I feel lucky that she's still there as guidance like she once promised, it also seems sort of surreal to me. If you've ever seen the movie 'P.S. I Love You' it's a bit like that, something to look forward to.

I'm sitting now at the kitchen table in the Manor, babysitting my cousins for at least the fourth time this past week even though I should be residing with my Aunt Phoebe. Aunt Piper has been busy lately and Uncle Leo won't be home from magic school for at least a few hours. Right now my aunt is focusing heavily on the foundation of what will be her new restaurant, the one thing I can honestly say I think she's desired since even before I was born. Strangely enough, despite our preconceived notions, she isn't going to be selling P3. The business at the nightclub has skyrocketed, and she's using some of the profits from that to pay for the loan of the building she's using for the restaurant.

Aunt Paige thinks she's crazy, and that it's ridiculous to try to run a successful club as well as restaurant, which I guess, spawns from her responsibilities as both a witch and whitelighter. Aunt Phoebe hasn't really said anything one way or the other; she's just waiting to see what comes of it. It's just "a leap of faith" as my Aunt Piper calls it, crediting me with giving her the inspiration to take the chance after my courageous trip to the past. I don't really see it that way, but I'll let her. She says she'll even hire me if her restaurant is a hit, and I bet it will be.

As far as babysitting goes, Wyatt is being a little angel today. I watch him, scribbling down the sums of his addition problems on the worksheet he was given and then moving on to practice his letters. He does this while chattering absentmindedly about how a boy in his class got in trouble for throwing dirt at someone else and how he'll be going on a field trip to a museum in a month, looking up only briefly once or twice to ask for help. I laugh, ruffling her sandy blonde hair as I remember the life of a first grader at Hoskins Elementary School.

Chris, on the other hand, fresh home from preschool at four, is gallivanting throughout the household shrieking at the top of his lungs. He's great at creating games to amuse himself, but I find myself leaving Wyatt so I can find him and tell him to keep it down or he'll definitely wake his baby sister up. His response to that is to shoot me a devilish smile and then orb out. I sigh, heading up the stairs quietly, hoping Chris hasn't stirred up enough of a racket to cause Penny to awaken because it took nearly an hour to get her down in the first place.

He's in his bedroom crashing to plastic cars together. I know this because even down the hallway, the sound is reverberated out against the walls. "Chris," I call firmly with a low voice. When I reach the doorway I'm just in time to witness a tower of legos obliterated as Chris slams a toy truck straight through it.

The colorful blocks burst apart, flying throughout the air and ricocheting off the walls, some of them hitting me in the face. I watch his eyes, lit up with the joy only a four-year-old can have.

That is, until he sees me.

"Uh oh," Chris moans, his face falling with realization as he braces himself. "Sorry, Pattie."

This is very out of character for Chris; usually Wyatt is the restless one while he tends to be content with staying wherever you put him. But his friend Hannah from preschool was celebrating her birthday today and brought a tray of cupcakes to share with her friends, leaving my cousin bouncing off the walls. When I don't give him an answer, he forgets his mistake with the blocks and resumes crashing the vehicles into whatever he lays eyes on first. "Wham!" Chris cries, "Bam! Bam! Kaboom!" Another statue of blocks comes tumbling to the carpet.

"No more Chris," I scold, "It's time to quiet down while your baby sister takes her nap."

I see the plan to orb forming in his eyes and catch him before he has the slightest chance. "Ah, ah, ah, do it and I'll send a round of frigid ice your way," I threaten, already raising my hand to my mouth. My cyrokinises actually can't effect another witch to a point beyond a mere chill, especially family, but Chris is too young to know that and in this family you have to fight fire with fire in order to get anywhere.

Chris reflects upon the idea of that and comes to the decision that he'd rather not suffer that fate. There's a gasp, "You wouldn't!"

"Don't be so quick to assume that, Christopher," I taunt him, using a phony voice of authority and doing the best I can to sound more confident than I am. "Then maybe I'll even feed ya to the demons if you're a bad boy."

I've got him with that. The thought of the mysterious, scary demons that he hasn't seem much of in his short lifetime recently trigger my victory. "Your commands are answered!" he mocks some television movie, scampering over to me and bowing down on his knees like a slave. "I'll do as you want, my queen!"

It's hard not to crack up with Chris when he's 'in character' and I find myself laughing hysterically as I gather him up into my arms and place a kiss on his forehead. "That's what I thought."

"You wouldn't _really _give me to the demons, would you Pattie?" he queries, pulling an innocent face with wide eyes and an ever adorable pout. I grin and hug him tighter.

"Of course not, you're too adorable and I love you too much," I reply, shutting his door as I carry him out into the hallway. "Especially because you managed not to wake Penny—" I'm cut off as the screaming of an infant rips through the second floor of the Manor. No such luck. "—up." Chris jumps down from my arms and down the hallway before I can stop him, yelling something about not being demon food and I smack my palm to my forehead. "Wait a minute, mister!" I call after him, but that's a lost cause because he's not coming back and I have a crying baby to deal with, so I leave the problem with Chris and head off to deal with my youngest cousin.

Penny's still hollering as I creep into her bedroom and dim the lights. I laugh, considering how she takes after her namesake. Grams was always yelling, so persistent that you always ended up doing things her way. It's a fitting tribute, I think, and a special compliment for me. In the weeks preceding her birth, I weighed in heavily on something that had been bothering me for months, the naming of a very special little baby.

They'd known it was going to be girl since one of the ultrasounds; I'd known from before that out of pure intuition and I'd known that Aunt Piper wanted to name her Prudence Melinda. That was the original plan for Wyatt as well until he ended up being a boy, and then I think I was too young for it to bother me, but growing up I realized how much I liked that I was named after my grandmother because of my mother's love for her. I wanted that to continue for another generation, I wanted to name my little girl Prudence one day in the future.

I considered this for weeks and weeks as the time neared my aunt's due date, but said nothing to no one. It was my aunt's happiness or my own, and if I said anything, I had to be prepared that there was no going back. And if I didn't, I had to be just as ready to live the rest of my life dealing with my decision. One day, feeling selfish, I walked in to my aunt's bedroom as she was lounged out on her bed snacking on a bowl full of chips and pretzels. Sitting down on the bed, I prepared to unload my problems to her once and for all.

Unfortunately for me, her water broke.

In the end, I never told Aunt Piper about my wish to name my daughter Prue. Although I was mentally training myself to accept that choice, later that night before either of my aunts had arrived and it was just Aunt Piper and I alone in the hospital room, she carefully rested the tiny infant in my embrace and whispered her name to me.

Penelope Melinda Halliwell.

My jaw dropped before I could control it. I begged to know why she'd changed her mind so quickly, but she just replied that she'd been mulling it over in her brain for months now. She'd realized how much it meant to me without me needing to say a word, and then thought it fair to recognize the woman that had raised her instead, like I wanted to.

I was free to name my little girl Prudence one day, she told me. Aunt Piper was done with having kids and she promised neither of my other aunts would name their little girls that either.

Lifting that same little child, yet now a year older, into my grasp, I'm in awe at how big she gets every time I see her. It seems like she grows within even an hour and begins reacting to every sound and sight around her. She and Kyra are a month apart; Kyra was born in June and Penny in July, but both has begun, at 16 and 17 months, using words such as Mama, Dada, no, and ball. Just the other day I was making breakfast before school and when I set the plate of waffles down on the counter, I managed to coax Kyra into mumbling 'eggo'; a few days later she's got it down pat and poor Aunt Phoebe is running low as they're now her favorites.

I rock Penny back and forth in my arms gently, shushing her and doing whatever I can to soothe her cries. Aunt Piper has been joking around that I'll need all the practice I can get with infants seeing as my Aunt Paige just found out she was expecting in June and then Aunt Phoebe followed with that same exciting news in August. And I keep reinforcing the importance of me receiving a paycheck at minimum wage if I'm going to spend next summer running the Halliwell Daycare center. Aunt Piper scoffed when I told her that the first time, but by the third round I think it's starting to sink in because I've begun sitting for at least 6 more kids around the neighborhood.

Penny is still crying and I prop on my widest smile, juggling her in my arms and smoothing her auburn hair. "Come on," I cheer brightly, "come on, Penny! Smile, little girl! Calm down! It's okay!"

She finally does and I think it's due to the tone of my voice, which is so high-pitched and sprightly that even the most depressed person would give at least smile. I set Penny down so she can get out her energy and roam free for a few minutes before I lay her down again because she's barely been asleep an hour. I know she's cranky and it'll probably be impossible to settle Penny down for a second time, but I know have to try so I want to give myself a break until then. I watch her little legs carry her around the room, not able to contain my enjoyment as I do.

Penny learned to walk at 13 months, almost a month before Kyra did. Emily and I had been watching Pirates of the Caribbean for the thousandth time and when Orlando Bloom came on to the screen she just pulled herself to her feet effortlessly and made a run for the TV screen, pressing her tiny fingers on his face. That's how I predicted she'd be a boy addict, and she's got great taste. But I guess it's a family thing.

I watch as she encloses her palm on a chain of plastic rings that belonged to me as a toddler and kneel down in front of her, trying to picture myself at her age and my mother in my place. "Penny, sweetie," I coo, grabbing one of her tiny fists to get her attention. "Can you say, 'Aunt Prue'?"

She has no idea who this person is. Just recently I've gotten her used to attempting Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige, although it sounds more like 'phe-beh' and 'paish'. Both are still developing, but she recognizes them by face and is trying to communicate by names more and more, as is Kyra. I've done the name with her uncles, brothers, and Billie, hoping I can surprise them when she's got their names more clearly. She says mine either missing both T's so it sounds like 'Pa-ie' or will just go for Pay-Pay instead, because it's the most she can pronounce.

"Can you say Aunt Prue, Penny?" I ask again, curling my bottom lip into a pout, "Please?"

"Aun..Aun," she begins, and I want to laugh because she can't manage to enunciate her t's and it's adorable. "Aun Proo," Penny mumbles with a hopeful grin, gurgling. She picked it up, just like that. I'm in awe.

"Good girl," I whisper, giving her a hug and kiss as a reward and, knowing she's done a good thing, she claps for herself, giggling. "Yes, Penny, I'm very proud of you," I tell her. She shrieks and claps louder.

I hear a door slam shut and begin to worry, wondering if Wyatt or Chris have gone outside and then considering why they would be doing this. I pick Penny up, intent on returning her to her crib, but Wyatt comes bounding up the stairs with Chris at his heels, the two of them both yelling at top level, "Pattie! Auntie Paige is here!"

Bouncing the infant on my left hip and ushering Wyatt and Chris out the door in front of me, the four of us quickly scuttle down the stairs where Aunt Paige is waiting for me.

"There you are," she comments, wrapping me in her arms. "How's the babysitting going?"

"I haven't had a spare minute to study for my biology test, start my US history paper, or begin reading the novel I was assigned for English," I moan. Though I deeply love spending time with my cousins, every second with them is another I'm behind with my work, and I'm keep up four honors classes minus US history 1. What was a few late nights last week is beginning to occur more periodically.

She wrinkles her nose at my list of tasks. "Ouch. What's the bio test on?"

Penny wriggles in my arms and I adjust her so she'll stop. "Anatomy of a pig. We're dissecting them next week." Her face goes sour, the same way I feel about the whole situation. "It's a real thrill, I know."

"I always hated that," she agrees as we wander into the living room. Penny squirms again, whining to get out of my arms and I let her crawl across the couch into Aunt Paige's lap. "Hi sweetie," she coos to the baby and then faces me again. "Then again, I always faked sick on those days to get out of it."

"Aunt Paige!" I pretend to be outraged and she laughs. "I'm shocked at you! How ever should I punish you for committing such a crime?" I get another chuckle and then move on. "I almost made my frog disappear when we dissected one in the seventh grade. Emily was my partner, she had no problem teleporting it somewhere else."

"It was almost worth the F you would have gotten, I'm sure," she replies and then realizes that she's forgotten the real reason she's came. "Speaking of magic and school," she begins, and I notice the school bag lying on the floor next to her, "You left this at my house yesterday when you stopped by to get some peace."

I've been taking a few classes at magic school recently just so I can keep in tune with the knowledge of witches. They aren't too often to get me behind in public school, but the work is enough that I need to set aside spare time to finish it. After Uncle Leo finally relieved me of duty here yesterday, Aunt Phoebe's proved to be no place to get any studying done. Kyra's going through hell with teething, although she's already been getting them for months, and spent a good amount of time yowling while Aunt Phoebe's hormones from the pregnancy have kept her unable to bear most hours of the day. Even Uncle Coop couldn't seem to handle them so I went to the one place where children weren't an issue.

"Of course, I won't be able to get peace there for long," I remind her, rubbing the bump that she's already got at three months. "Because soon two darling little infants will be screaming their heads off with you too."

"Such a bearer of positive energy," she scoffs, smirking. We found out not too long ago that Aunt Paige and Uncle Henry had not one, but two bundles of joy coming their way. Although we're all excited, three newborns between two of my aunts in three months isn't going to be an easy condition.

Wyatt and Chris are yelling from another room, their little voices shrieking up a storm. I sigh, brushing my bangs from my face and searching for them, "And you're sure I'm not just being realistic?" I ask, gesturing towards the noise. She doesn't want to, but she has to laugh, and then stands and follows after me.

"Wyatt! Chris!" she yells, letting them know that trouble is coming. Then, Aunt Paige shoots me a curious stare, "Have they been doing this often?"

I suppose what often is for siblings, seeing as I'm the only one in the family who doesn't have any and won't. "Often enough," I decide, "when I got here they were fighting over which one got the last piece of banana bread just as Aunt Piper ran out the door and left me to deal with this." I roll my eyes, "No wonder she's never home."

Aunt Paige shrugs, and when we reach the living room it's clear to both of us what's going on. Wyatt's found out that Chris has gotten a hold of his favorite trucks, one of the ones I saw him playing with earlier, and now they're at each other's throats as he tries to get it back.

"It's mine, Chris! Give it!" he shrieks. The duo are rolling around on the floor, Chris throws his arm back and away from Wyatt as he reaches for it. "Chris!" he mutters again, but Chris ducks out of the way.

"Dealing with little children is an art you must be skilled in, and I am the master. Let me handle this, Pattie," Aunt Paige says, handing Penny off to me and heading over as Chris climbs onto the couch, balancing on it's arm and holding the truck high over his head.

Penny gurgles and leans her head on my shoulder. I look at her, smiling slyly. "Let's just see if Auntie Paige has gotten in over her head, shall we?" I remark to the baby, who giggles and mumbles Chris's name. "Yes, Penny, Chris is going to give her a run for her money." I take a step back; my aunt is great with the kids, but she hasn't seen them at all since school started and they've both gotten a lot rougher and have a lot more energy over her now.

Lingering on the edge of the room, I observe the scene as Aunt Paige goes in to grab Chris from the side of the couch, but he pushes her out of the way and leaps off the side, landing on his feet and skittering away. Wyatt barely notices her, so intent on retrieving his favorite toy that even when she seizes him to stop he yanks out of her arms and after him. Aunt Paige calls both boys' name several times but her efforts are ignored. Wyatt continues to try and throttle his little brother, howling for his toy back and knocking Chris over. When Aunt Paige once again interferes, pulling Wyatt off of Chris, she is accidentally kicked in the face. Both boys scream over her, refusing to be separated from their argument until either wins. After a few more unsuccessful tries, she returns, out of breath.

"So, master, should I call a skilled artist to take care of the job for you?" I jeer at her, biting my lip.

"That is not funny, Patricia," Aunt Paige replies, glaring at me and sitting down to rest.

The boys keep up at it, Penny is cheering them on by her laughter. "On the contrary, your nieces are getting great enjoyment out of watching you make a fool out of yourself." Then I add, with a hint of arrogance "I tried to warn you, all mighty Aunt Paige."

She waves me away, rising to her feet and making off towards the kitchen. "Whatever then, you handle them, I'm going to make myself some lunch."

"It's four in the afternoon!" I call after my aunt. "How can you be eating lunch now?"

"Well it's feeding time for the fetuses in my book," she yells back, already in the kitchen. "And I'm eating for three, so four o' clock is the new scheduled time for eating lunch in the Halliwell Manor."

--

Ten minutes later, I've convinced Chris that it's time to give Wyatt his truck back and to next time ask before just taking. I've warned them the consequences of all their fighting, made a mental note to talk to my uncle when he gets home, and become convinced none of it fazed Wyatt or Chris. Wyatt carefully inspected his truck for scratches and when there were no major problems they began getting along again.

Stores need a manual for how to deal with magical siblings.

Wyatt and Chris parade into the kitchen as Penny is in her high chair munching on some cheerios and Aunt Paige is finishing up the last few bites of her sandwich. Before I can stop him, he climbs on top of the chair adjacent to her and pulls a piece of tomato out from inside the sandwich, shoving it down his throat.

"Christopher!" I reprimand. This is not the 'best behavior' Aunt Piper promised he'd be on, no where close. "That's not how we treat family, we do not take," I remind him as I take a napkin from the center of the table and wipe off the fresh juice tricking down from the corners of his lips. "Now what do you say to Aunt Paige?"

"Tomatoes are yummy," he squeals, reaching for another piece of the sandwich, at which I immediately grab his wrist and pull it back.

"Not a chance. I can tell mommy and daddy what a rude little boy you were being today or you can apologize to your aunt for taking her lunch without asking, it's your choice."

"Sowwy, Auntie Paige," he complies, feigning innocence and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"It's all right, Chris, but I think it's time to listen to your cousin and go play with your brother quietly, sound good?" she asks, although it's more of a command than a question. He looks longingly at the cheerios Penny is smashing for a second, then at the firm glare I'm giving him that says he'll be in trouble if he even thinks about going near them, and then retreats from the room with Wyatt not far behind. "What's up with the kid today, usually it's Wyatt who you can't get to stop bouncing off the walls."

She hands me her plate, which I add to the pile of dishes in the sink and then begin sweeping the jumble of crumbs on the plastic top of the highchair, although Penny fusses because apparently she's not done making a mess. "I know, I thought the same thing. One of his little friends had a party at school and apparently schools no longer monitor how much a sugar a child intakes because they get to give the kids back a few hours later once it's kicked in."

She smiles at me as if I've been inducted in to some club, as if she definitely understands. "Ah, a little boy and a mountain of sugar. You may as well bang your head against the wall in the beginning and get it over with."

"It's even worse because they're so magical and all they want to do is share it with the world, which I wish they could, but I doubt that would go over well. It would make for an interesting conversation on 'Career Day' though. My father used to be one of the top notch guardian angels out there, my mom is one of the most powerful witches in the universe and I'm an escapee from the institution," I quip, twirling a strand of my brown hair around my finger and giggling lightly.

"Well I seem to recall a certain niece almost showing off her telekinesis for show and tell one year. You couldn't have brought a teddy bear or necklace, you had to be the star of the class. Thank God Prue found out about that one and stopped you before you got to school."

Both of us turn around at the familiar sound of my aunt's voice. Sure enough, Aunt Phoebe is hovering in the doorway beaming. "Excuse me?" Aunt Paige snickers and I can tell she's imagining the effects of that.

"Yeah, that would have been a hard one to cover up," Aunt Phoebe scoffs.

"Ah, very discreet with that rebuttal I see." I roll my eyes and correct her. "And I was five, thank you very much.

"Whatever," she ruffles my hair.

Aunt Phoebe has Kyra settled in her arms. She is overjoyed to see me, screeching her own version of my name at the top of her lungs. "Well hello there little miss bug," I chuckle happily, pecking a kiss on her head. "What's one of my favorite little girls up to?" She just babbles in return. Then it hits me. "Oh no, that's why you're here isn't it? You've come to leave me with another one to watch?"

Both of my aunts laugh at my meltdown. "Ye of little faith Pattie," she grins with Kyra looking over her shoulder, trying to chatter to Penny from the other side of the room. "Why do you think I'd stoop that low?"

"Because you did yesterday."

"Well we've got to get you back for the mayhem you put us through when you were a little kid," Aunt Paige adds, nudging me as her laughter blends with Aunt Phoebe.

I turn to my aunt. "What is this, gang up on Pattie day?"

"Every day is gang up on Pattie day, that's the definition of parenthood." Aunt Phoebe first smirks at me, as if she's accomplished because of her witty banter, and then follows with a wink. "Actually, I came over because I thought you might need a little free time to work on some schoolwork. Can you believe it? I'm being nice!" She sets Kyra on the table so Aunt Paige can entertain her and then folds me into her arms. "And I miss you for a change, you're never at the condo even I though I _think _you might live there," Aunt Phoebe continues sarcastically.

"Gotta earn my keep," I reply, rubbing my fingers together to symbolize money. I turn around to walk away and then pretend to be struck with realization. "Oh wait! You don't pay me," I say bitterly with a half smile. "I'm really going to start charging you by the cousin soon. Aunt Piper will owe me a fortune in one week."

She shoves me out the door, both she and Aunt Paige laughing. "Go do your work." Ignoring the money comment, "We'll watch the kids for you."

--

So I do.

I spend twenty minutes memorizing every fact on the packet of pig body parts and how to use the dissection instruments. I take another hour reading three chapters into _Catcher in the Rye _and then work on my introduction for my paper on the Salem Witch Trials. I muse over the irony of the fact that I chose the Salem Witch trials for another five minutes until it's six o' clock.

Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige have checked on me repeatedly as I'm stretched out in the conservatory with books strewn out everywhere and they want to make sure I stay focused. Without looking up from my work I have mini conversations with them; both remind me continuously that they should be leaving yet by six neither has and Aunt Piper walked through the door in a cheery mood fifteen minutes ago so I know they won't be anytime soon.

Remembering the mahogany colored schoolbag resting near the couch, I lunge over for it. When I finally grab the bag, I tip it over so the contents spill to the floor.

Two books and a locket. My mother's locket.

I'd been crushed a few days ago when I thought it had slipped off my neck during school but seeing it now I sigh a breath of relief. It'd been resting in my first letter waiting for me, the locket my mom had rekindled from her childhood and never taken off that I could remember. Inside was a tiny picture of her and grandma on the left and then one of she and I on the right.

The snapshots that she'd sent along are resting between the pages of my book for the class I take on magical creatures. They're imprinted between the paper, book marking the being I'm supposed to research and discuss with my family. I open the book, folding down the corner of a page to seal the page and then glance at the three beautiful works of art. One of me and my aunts, one of me and my younger self, and one of me and her.

The inscription on the back of the last one reads: _so you'll never forget._

It'd been a last minute thing, a sudden idea of Aunt Phoebe's while we were waiting in the attic for Uncle Leo to arrive so I could explain my plan. When the memories fade to the point that I can't place myself there again, when I'm almost convinced I dreamed the whole situation, all I have to do is look at these and then I'm set straight.

I return my attention to the book lying out in front of me. It's parted open to my assigned magical being, and my eyes float back and forth from the photos to my studies as I snatch a notebook from the jumble on the floor and begin to copy down some important facts about this creature. The pictures and words bleed into one so that I've somehow become so absorbed that the facts run through my mind in unison with the people caught in time.

The answer doesn't come at first.

In fact, it takes a good ten minutes.

_I'd been scribbling away at my notepad, jotting down a thing or two but mostly spacing out as I doodled in the corner. I loved Magical Beings 101, in fact out of the four classes I took it was my favorite. But it was a Saturday morning. It was early. I'd spent three and a half hours gossiping with Emily on the phone and then another two cramming for the test I'd be taking to advance in my potions class. I vaguely remembered the clock reading somewhere around 2:45 in the morning before I let my eyes close that evening and then woke up with my face in the middle of the book three hours later._

_Needless to say, I was exhausted._

_It took every mature fiber in my being not to brew some sort of potion to drink keep myself awake through the test, though if anything went wrong I could always pass it off as a class experiment anyway._

_Potions class had come and gone and I wasn't even paying the least bit attention to my professor as she chattered away about the latest group of witchly counterparts we'd been studying, fairies I think it may have been. I wasn't thinking about anything in particular, if anything at all, but I had fazed the rest of the world out of my little bubble. In fact, by the time I realized Ms. Wilson was going to be assigning us anything at all it was when Tessie tapped on my shoulder while my teacher was still three desks in front of me._

_"Hey Pattie, Wilson's giving us some project and unless you want her to kick you out you should probably at least look like you were listening," she warns, reinserting her lollipop in her mouth when she's done and sucking on it._

_I sat forward and blinked a couple times, fixing my gaze on Ms. Wilson when she arrived at my desk and flipped through my textbook until she found the was looking to disperse to me. "I think you'll find this to be very informative, Pattie. And who knows, maybe it'll come in handy for you in your life."_

_Examining the information printed on the paper, I quickly found myself loosing concentration again. I knew about these magical allies, we'd worked with them years back. Who was she kidding? I'd breeze through it, but I still wondered one thing._

_How was this ever going to be helpful towards _me_?_

I realize it when I looked back at that moment.

My eyes stay firmly planted on the paper for a few minutes. I don't just glide over the statistics either; I memorize them instantly and relate them to this figure. It doesn't take long because I'm already familiar with all the facts, they've been there all along and I've just missed them.

Not bothering to clean up the puddle of paper muddled on the floor, I jump to my feet, leaving the clutter behind and dart to the kitchen with the textbook wrapped tightly in my arms.

When I get there I'm out of breath. The scent of dinner is trailing across the room, wafting itself over to me and my cousins are all busy engrossed in their own little activities, but when my aunts see the look on my face, they immediately know something is up. "You need to come to the attic with me, right now."

Aunt Piper goes to object. I can tell that she knows this is a magical situation and she doesn't feel she has the time, but she is cut off abruptly by Aunt Paige. "No, Piper, look how serious she is about this. Let's just see."

They grab the kids and follow me up the stairs and it seems the most interminable moments of my life even though I'm skipping steps, racing for the attic. Fear grips my heart and it's thumping at top level. Aunt Phoebe reaches from behind me and I can tell she's trying to keep up because she's feeling what I'm feeling. Her empathy gives way to the conclusion that this is important, but she doesn't know why.

The hallway grows with each step so that the door to the attic is never within reach. I push myself until I'm finally walking through that archway to the attic, ascending the stairs and standing in front of the Book of Shadows.

Chris has fallen asleep in Aunt Piper's arms and she places him on the couch. Wyatt is playing with Penny on the floor, showing her his technique of chasing after demons. Kyra is bouncing in Aunt Phoebe's arms, like she can sense the impending occurrence of something exciting. Aunt Paige runs over the potion bottles, skimming through them slowly with one eye on me. Aunt Piper folds her arms and sits on the couch next to her son, waiting.

Aunt Phoebe is the one to come up beside me and places her hand on my shoulder as I shuffle furiously through the pages of the book, searching desperately for a spell I can't find. Turning each page, my hope builds and then falls.

"Do you want us to call Billie?" Aunt Paige wonders aloud, just for the sake of making conversation. Total quietness doesn't sit well with her; she can't function in a dead silent room without fidgeting.

"No, just us," I barely hear myself respond, still fingering through each piece of ancient family history but finding nothing. "Just us." Then, as if a light bulb clicks on, I finally recollect why I can't find it. "Aunt Phoebe," I begin, but feeling not quite ready for everyone else to know yet, I whisper what I need to say into her ear. Then, out loud, I ask, "Do you still remember that spell?"

She thinks about it too long and I have to stop my mind from jumping to conclusions that she won't be able to retain the spell. But she is, after all, my aunt, the best of spell-casters, and she does. "Being of—"

"No!" I yell instantly, interrupting her before she goes too far. "It's not for you; we can't call one of yours. We need mine, or it won't be right." Aunt Phoebe doesn't question me, she writes down the spell instead.

"Your _what?_" Aunt Piper inquires, becoming intrigued. She settles Chris on her lap as he snores.

"My muse."

_Being of creativity,  
Show yourself now to me  
Your light which shines upon our face_

_Let our vision now embrace_

I hold my breath. A form shimmers in, but not in the way of a demon. And then there she is.

Standing in front of us, no trick, is my mother.

And she looks beautiful.

"Mom!" I scream, throwing myself towards her, falling into her arms. She's ready for it. "Oh my god, I knew you'd come, I just knew you would if I called you. I knew it had to be."

"Oh, Pattie." It's all she can say before both of us are in tears. They're a mixture; from being so happy to see each other and equally missing the other so much in the lost years.

It takes me a minute to remember that my family is standing around me, probably in complete shock. I'm surprised they haven't already come colliding into one huge hug. Wiping the tears from my eyes, the two of us pull apart to face them. They're looks of pure shock mirror one another; not a single one of the three of them moves a muscle or even whispers anything under their breath for the longest time.

Mom still keeps me close to her, and I don't fight it now. I embrace it, fitting myself into the curves of her arms and letting my skin stroke against her shirt. "But Pattie," Aunt Piper finally finds the words. "How?"

"I don't know the whole story myself to be completely honest. But in my textbook it was explaining things about muses. And I was looking at the pictures we took in the past, mom," I look to her, unsure of myself, "and I don't know, everything just fit. When my teacher gave me the book, she said that it might come in handy in my life. I never thought she'd mean this…" I trail off. Ms. Wilson is one of the reasons Magical Beings 101 is my favorite class; there's something about her that's less like a teacher and more like a friend.

_The day she'd prepared to discuss Shax in class for our unit on major demons I'd been called in early for her to check that I didn't mind her giving the details right in front of me about the demon that killed my mother. I admired that, it made me respect her. She gave me the option of skipping the class, but I showed up in tribute to Mom. I took my seat, completely set on making it through the class, feeling a pair of eyes from each of my classmates fixated on me. I knew and was friends with most of them, but my reputation as a Charmed One's daughter assured that whether I was associated with those kids or not, they knew the story: that somewhere in Shax's history was the death of my mother. I bit my lip and watched as the minutes crept by slowly with strength brewing within me, but when Ms. Wilson began talking about his powers it submerged. I raised my hand to correct her on a statement of hers about Shax's use of energy balls but it took me back into that moment, and before I knew it, I was sprinting out of her classroom and to the bathroom where I was sick, over and over again until my mind had gone numb. _

_I called Aunt Paige and told her I was feeling nauseous, begging to be picked up. Thankful she didn't read the pain coated in my voice, I grabbed my things and headed for the main hall to await her arrival. Needless to say, I was surprised to see Ms. Wilson standing over a cart of books. She gasped when she saw me standing there, apologizing profusely for going ahead with the class. Somehow I ended up telling her about my mother, unloading the things I'd kept from most over the years, such as my ability to hear her in the back of my head. I knew she was watching, her presence strongly felt, as if she was holding me together even in her absence._

I explain this thoroughly to my family, keeping a calm tone present in my voice. When I'm finished, Mom nods and considers this. "Smart woman," she decides finally, "she must have realized it. That's why she assigned Muses to you, hoping to clue you in so you could finally get some salvation."

I rock back and forth on the balls of my feet. I know my aunts are anxious. "I think my aunts need that a little more right now," I guess, taking a step back and leaving Mom free to be knocked over. "Go ahead, go for it."

Chillingly enough, they don't move.

They remind me of myself, what they wanted most right in front of them, but now that it's there, what to do with it? After a few seconds of nothingness, Aunt Phoebe gradually sets Kyra down on the floor by Wyatt and Penny. Then she casually walks up to Mom and touches a hand to her face. "You're real," she comments. "I saw Pattie touching you and I couldn't bring myself to believe it."

"Believe it, Phoebe," Mom tells her, not missing a beat. "I'm really here. It's not some cruel joke; you can say or do anything you want. So what'll it be?"

The scene unfolds in front of my eyes. Mom is already crying, but soon its spread and Aunt Phoebe is too. At the sight of her baby sister in tears, she gathers my aunt in her arms and consoles her. "Oh god Prue. I've just wanted this for so long, and I never knew how I was supposed to deal with it. I wanted to be strong for you. I wanted to prove that I was as brave as you'd thought me, that I could move on for you." She sobs louder.

"I know, Phoebe, I do." Mom squeezes her shoulder, shushing Aunt Phoebe and the two of them look no older than young children caught by the impact of reality. "Of course I'm proud of you," she adds. "Why wouldn't I be? You got through a battered marriage and managed to find the guy of your dreams and then achieve your hope of being a mother. I've never seen you fail any innocent or let a demon go unvanquished. I watch you, Phoebe. You've dedicated your life to helping others; you raised my baby girl and turned her into a fierce confident young woman. You're everything I've ever wanted you to be. Everything Mom and Grams hoped for."

Aunt Phoebe stares up at her, chocolate brown eyes widening. "I…I am?"

"How can you not believe that yourself, Pheebs? You've sacrificed everything for your family, and I've been watching you every step of the way. I wouldn't let you go through that alone," Mom promises, kissing her forehead.

"Losing you was like losing mom all over again, Prue. And I felt so responsible, like my staying for Cole meant choosing him over you," she weeps into Mom's shoulder much as I do with her and I find my similarities to my aunt. "If I had to go back and do that again—"

Mom shakes her head. "Don't try to rethink your actions. It worked out how it was meant to, Phoebe."

"I never knew how to grasp it, Prue. I spent my days praying you'd just walk through the front door. All I wanted was my big sister back, and I put so much energy in trying to be there for Pattie, and Piper, even Paige that I didn't know how to comfort myself. So I just closed that pain off." She searches for the correct way to explain everything she's suppressed for years, but Mom already understands. That's the beauty of it.

"You need to let yourself go, let all your emotions go. It's why you're the empath Phoebe; you have such a big heart, and so much compassion for others. But let our sisters help you too. If you're sad, it's okay to be sad. Okay?" Mom lifts my aunt's chin like she's done with me before and she nods then wraps herself in Mom's arms again. "I love you, Phoebe, and I miss you too." I see her glance as Kyra, amidst my other cousins on the floor. "And I love my little niece; she's gorgeous, just as her mother is."

Aunt Phoebe holds Mom to her for a long time before pulling away.

When she does, she comes to me and we cling to each other for support without any words.

Her next target is sitting on the couch with Chris still resting on her lap. When Aunt Piper, knee deep in her own tears, sees Mom coming she gently lifts him off and settles him next to her. The second Mom is seated, she collapses into her embrace. "Prue," she whimpers. "I don't even know what to say."

"Then don't," she cuddles Aunt Piper close. "Let me say it this to you then, Piper. I'm just as proud of you as I am Phoebe. I know you were hesitant to be the oldest sister, to have to step into my shoes and take leadership. But Piper, you've grown into the role so much, you're strong and you're brilliant. You have three perfect children, you've shaped my daughter into an incredible person, and Piper, you threw away your doubts about your being a witch to protect your family. I know how that was the ultimate thing to surrender for you and you desperately wanted to stop being a witch after I died. But you didn't, you held your own and kept on going."

"I didn't see any other choice," Aunt Piper admits, clutching the sleeve of Mom's shirt like a toddler. "I had to make sure they were safe like you did. I didn't think I could be you though, the one in charge.

"Of course you're not me honey," Mom continues, stroking her hair and rubbing her back. "I'm glad of that too. I love you for you Piper; if you were anyone else it wouldn't be right." Meanwhile, Wyatt has left his sister and cousin behind and scurried over to my mother, hopeful to climb onto her lap.

Mom accepts him warmly, resting her face in his sandy blonde hair. "You're my Aunt Prue?" he asks, staring into her eyes with the innocence of a child. I can't help but smile, Aunt Phoebe does too. From across the room, Aunt Paige watches as well and when our eyes meet she unsteadily looks away. My mother has a wide grin, she nods. "Pattie tells me all sorts of stories about you! Like the one time you were all sucked up into a giant ice cream truck and grandpa had to come to the rescue!" He's so into this that it makes me cry harder.

Aunt Piper can't seem to believe how unfazed Wyatt is. She picks her head up, "Wyatt, Aunt Prue has always wanted to meet you. She loves you very much even though she can't be around."

"Is that why you're crying, Mommy?" he questions bravely, clutching one of her hands.

"I'm just so happy to see her, baby."

"Me too, Wyatt," I put in, making my voice heard again. "Just like I've told you, it's been a long time since I've gotten to really see my mommy, and I've missed her. She's been up in heaven watching us, and guiding us." Chris rolls over and opens his eyes as I'm talking. I introduce him to the situation and my mother and not wanted to be left out, he crawls over Aunt Piper and settles himself between her and Mom.

Even Penny has gotten to her feet and joined them, reaching up to be included. "Aun Proo," she calls, waving her tiny arm expectantly. I cover my mouth in awe that she's placed the name with my mother and Mom lifts her to join them. Penny points to her, "Aun Proo here!"

"Very good, Penny," I whisper under my breath so I'm sure only Aunt Phoebe hears.

"I wish you could be here for them to grow up with," Aunt Piper says, her crying beginning to cease.

"So do I," Mom confesses as Penny wraps her hand around two of her fingers, squealing. "But I will be there to inspire them as often as I can while they grow up. I'll never leave my family."

"Just like you promised me," I recount, remembering how she'd told me that she'd always be my inspiration just before we parted in 2000. That'd come true, more so than either could have imagined. "When did you figure out that you could do this? When did you start being my muse?"

As Wyatt coils to fit in the empty space next to my mother, seeming very comfortable even though he's just met her. Mom thinks for a second, recollecting those moments and then comes up with an answer. "It wasn't long after, really. I'd been so fixated on keeping up with your every move; I just wasn't quite ready to leave you behind. And I knew you were in so much pain because of me, you needed to learn to trust again, to live. But I just couldn't figure out how to help you do that."

Aunt Phoebe strengthens her hold around me and I bury my face in one of her sleeves. She seems to intent on listening to Mom's story, but offers a smile to me when I look at her. I make an attempt to smile back and then huddle closer, strangely content standing where I am despite my need for Mom. Whether or not I'm in my mother's arms, she's there in front of me, talking to me like she's never even died. It's a miracle in so many ways to know that I can just be able to touch her if I want to, to tell her that I love her and I don't need to be next to her right now. I can let my cousins bond with her, because at this point even Kyra has noticed the scene before her and wobbled over to join the party. Mom looks to be having a ball as an aunt, having missed the opportunity in her life.

She continues, "So one day, I was talking to your father as we watched you battling Devlin, remember him?" I do, but it wasn't a question to be answered, she just keeps talking. "And then when I saw the muse who'd been inspiring us I just knew it. I'd told you I'd be there for guidance and inspiration and I knew this was the perfect way." She laughs as Kyra babbles and falls forward into her laugh with a moan, trying not to be distracted. "Your dad told me to go for it and to not stop until I got my way because I deserved it, being killed in the line of duty and all."

"Did you have to fight for it?" I asked, increasingly interested in the story.

"Yeah did you have to show them who was boss?" Wyatt pipes up, assuming fighting stance. I laugh and so does Mom. Our laughs have a similar rhythm to them, which I can't help but to notice.

"I did," Mom answers us, reaching the climax of her story and tickling Wyatt a bit for being silly. "The Elders didn't want me anywhere near you because they were convinced it would affect your ability to cope. But I know you, sweetie, you were too young to do that without help." She faces Aunt Piper and Aunt Phoebe, "you two were doing a great job with her but I knew that if she felt my presence and hear me again she'd stop fighting her emotions. It worked twice over because it helped me too."

"So you won, Aunt Prue?" Chris asks inquisitively as Penny screams.

"Yay!" Penny shrieks when she sees the excitement in her brother's eyes.

"Actually Chris," Mom declares, "I won with the help of Pattie's daddy, your uncle Andy, has she ever told you about him?" Both Wyatt and Chris shake their heads incredulously, whispering 'no' quietly. They're thrilled by yet another family member to learn about. Mom looks at me with a wry smile and I shrug back. I never meant to without information about my dad from them, it'd just never crossed my mind to bring him up.

"Pattie looks like you," Wyatt points out, diverting off topic. Aunt Phoebe bites her lip to keep from laughing when he says that, seems everyone in the family likes to rub it in. "Does Pattie look like Uncle Andy too?"

"She does a little bit especially her smile and eyes," Mom guesses, and I can tell she's trying to picture his face. "But you know how when Pattie tells you to do something you have to listen to her by the tone of her voice?"

"Yes!" Chris cries, folding his arms. "But that's cause mommy pays her to tell us what to do."

"No she doesn't," Wyatt protests, sticking his tongue out at me. "Pattie just wishes she did."

Mom chuckles and I throw Wyatt another glare. She drapes an arm around Wyatt's shoulders, going further into the explanation before my cousins can interrupt again. "Pattie's a lot like her daddy, boys," she tells them, and then returns her stare to me. "He stepped in for me and told the Elders that they owed me and if they stopped me from using magic after making us learn to embrace it that he'd personally go down to Earth himself and get the family involved, and he meant it. Powers or not, they learned not to mess with your father from there on out."

"Daddy did that for me?" I bring a hand to my mouth, astonished. I knew he loved me, but to go to those great lengths just meant the world.

Mom winks at me. "You are his spoiled little girl. He'd move heaven and hell for you."

"I love him, even if I don't say it enough. I've just never really thought about how to deal correctly with his death," I try to explain, if only to satisfy myself. "I never forgot him, but as time went on I made myself stop so I was only grieving one parent at a time."

"Sweetie, he knows that," I'm reassured. "And Andy loves you too. He's probably laughing at us right now."

"His two girls," I say and I'm aware of the way my eyes light up. Mom's do too.

She lets Wyatt and Chris back to the floor and gives Aunt Piper a kiss on the forehead. She watches my mother very carefully, as if noting every detail her mind had forgotten and then summons Penny over to her and hugs the baby close, afraid to let her go. Mom comes to me and envelopes both Aunt Phoebe and I in a tight hug.

"Mom," I interrupt the hug to remind her of something very important. I whisper to her, "Aunt Paige."

Aunt Paige has her back to us now, but she's been watching and listening to this entire conversation without a single word. Considering that this is the woman who always has the witty rebuttal and knows just what to say in every situation even if it's just a miniscule joke to make me laugh, that fact that she's been silenced by this proves is enormous importance.

The manor is practically silent now, even the boys know not to speak and risk ruining the family moments. Aunt Phoebe's eyes gaze into mine, brimming with empathy and concern for Aunt Paige. As far as she knows, they've never met. As far as she knows, Aunt Paige is just feeling like an outsider and awkward in the situation.

But I know the truth, and my mother is conscious of that.

I bet she's been holding her feet in their place and resisting all temptation to go running into Mom's arms. She's tense, that part is obvious enough, and like my other two aunts, Aunt Paige has been waiting years for her chance at reuniting with Mom. It's probably killing her.

Aunt Phoebe gathers with Aunt Piper on the couch when Mom begins to walk away and head towards her. Wyatt and Chris are at Aunt Piper's feet; they begin whispering again, sprawled out and playing a racing game in their small square space. Both babies are lazily lying on their mother's laps, both of whom have their eyes glued to their sisters, anxious to see the outcome of this. It's like a movie theater without the popcorn.

I stay back and clasp my hands in front of me, taking a deep breath. When Mom approaches Aunt Paige and taps her on the shoulder, she absentmindedly drops the empty potion bottle she'd been holding, its smooth surface plummeting towards the floor and exploding into tiny sharp fragments.

Only then does my aunt realize what she's accidentally done and she snaps back into reality. "Oh!" she yelps, bending down instantly to clean the clutter. "Sorry, I didn't mean—"

"Paige," Mom takes hold of her wrist and yanks it away from the glass, facing her directly in the eye. "Paigey, look at me. The mess doesn't matter; you can clean it up later, okay?" I hear Mom's sigh of relief when she finally manages to get Aunt Paige to stop shaking long enough to thrust her into her arms. "I've missed you so much, honey. Once was never enough."

"When you said to never say never, you weren't kidding were you?" Aunt Paige asks, gaping, crying.

"I hoped I wasn't," Mom declares, releasing Aunt Paige from the hug and rubbing her arms soothingly. "I knew there'd be a chance someday, Paige, that we'd see each other again."

Aunt Phoebe stops playing with Kyra and coughs, choking on her own shock. "_Again?_"

"Paige, I thought you said you'd never met Prue before?" Aunt Piper wants to know, sitting up and looking at Aunt Paige not with anger, but extreme curiosity. "You lied to us."

Aunt Paige squeezes her eyes closed in shame and looks away, but Mom steps up for her in defense. "Paigey, I think it's time they know." She pulls Aunt Paige, who has a steady flow of tears going, close to her and begins to explain. "After Pattie came to me in the past I cast a spell so you guys would forget about everything that had happened. But Pattie and I agreed," she looks to me as if for some support in the matter, "that I needed to go to Paige and tell her things would be okay. So I went the one place she and I had in common."

"That area down by the lake," Aunt Piper supplied without thinking. She'd known both of them had found it comforting but never put two and two together that it was a common space between them.

"Yes," Mom says. "And I told her everything. She didn't believe me at first of course, but I think I sort of convinced her. And then I had to leave her, and we weren't sure that I'd ever see her again." She looks at Aunt Paige tenderly and combs her fingers through Aunt Paige's hair. "And now here we are."

The bond my mother and aunt have is strong for two people who've only met once. It's like they've been communicating through thoughts in the past years. Two sisters who love each other no matter what.

"You were right about everything," Aunt Paige tells her. "I'm glad you came back. I wasn't sure how I was going to do this but then I thought of you and I was okay."

"I'm so glad we found you, Paige. Bringing you into this family is the best thing that's happened to us because of our magical heritage. I'm so proud of you for all you've learned, and for being an incredible aunt to my baby. You know you'll be a great mother," she praises, patting Aunt Paige's baby bump.

"Yeah, and Paige, don't worry," Aunt Piper assures her. "We understand why you didn't say anything now."

Aunt Paige breathes a sigh of heavy relief and allows Mom to hold her like she's done with my other two aunts. It's amazing how the woman who has never let her vulnerable side show relinquished it all to Mom.

"Can you stay for awhile?" Aunt Phoebe picks up the courage to ask. We all raise our heads to this question, nervous to hear what Mom will say, fearing the Elders will take her back as quickly as she came.

But to everyone's delight, she nods. "I think I can." I squeal happily, jumping up and down and hugging her when Aunt Paige lets her go. "I don't know how long I'll get away with it, but it's time to spend some time with my family, just like Grams and Mom have done in the past." She links her arm with mine. "What do you say to that?"

"It's a date," I grin back.

"Well, let's head downstairs to make dinner then, huh?" Aunt Piper perks up, getting to her feet. I can tell we're in for a feast tonight. She suddenly seems so happy, no doubt because Mom's here. Here with us.

Aunt Piper rushes the kids out in front of her in excitement, hosting Penny up into her arms as she does. Wyatt throws his arms up and cheers, "You can see my room!"

"Mine too!" Chris returns his cheer with even more glee.

"We share a room doofus," Wyatt replies as they disappear down the stairs and then the hallway, with Aunt Phoebe not far behind as she snuggles Kyra, who is beginning to fall asleep, in her arms. When Aunt Paige passes to leave, she takes Mom's hand and holds it for a long moment as they lock eyes, and then is gone as well.

It leaves the two of us alone.

We hold each other for what seems like ages, and I try to blink the tears back but they come anyway. Tears of joy and of sadness, I tell her those three simple words, "I love you," I tell her. "I don't know how I've done it without you."

"Hey, what have we discussed here?" Mom reinforces, "You aren't doing it without me. I'll be around as long as you need me, sweet girl. That's my job." We sit down on the couch together and she lets me lean on her.

I lace my fingers in between hers and we stay like that. I listen to the hum of her breathing and smell the scent of her perfume. I wonder if you go to heaven exactly as you were when you died, perfume and all. That part has always confused me, how my family members come back down adorned in different clothes and jewels, but maybe in heaven you can just be whoever you want.

None of these questions escape my lips, leaving some of the mystery still there. I don't ask my mother why she, like the other muses, isn't in one of those floor-length blue robes. I assume it's because she's always put herself above the law, those weren't her style to wear so she refused. After all she's just my muse; the Elders wouldn't be able to enforce that on her. I laugh to myself when I consider all this.

"We should go down for dinner," I decide when the silence begins to give me chills. "Our family is probably wondering where we are and if we got lost or something."

Neither of us moves.

"I think you're right," Mom finally agrees. "We should get ourselves downstairs, you know how Aunt Piper gets when we fail to show up," she continues, trying to be nice about it and creep around the word.

Bluntly, I intercept the statement, "Paranoid."

Immediately she corrects me, "she is overly concerned."

"Paranoid."

She attempts to stifle her laughter but fails in every way, "You're such a smart ass. I wonder who you got that from." I roll my eyes and Mom props a counterfeit image of innocence on her face, it makes me giggle as well. We share another hug and some more tears and finally get the energy topush ourselves up, moving towards the door when suddenly she stops and turns to me. Mom places a hand on my shoulder, "By the way sweetie, I meant to tell you, it was about time when you stopped reading that letter every night and let yourself get some sleep, not that I mind tucking my baby in every night."

With that, she winks at me and then continues on her way downstairs, while I hang back, alone. I begin to laugh because yes, that makes sense. My mother will never change. And right now, she's downstairs.

Waiting for me.

So yes, I guess you could say I got a happy ending, even though that sounds pretty cliché because this isn't a movie. But really, when you think about it, this isn't the end. This is an improvement towards my future and a single chance today to throw care to the wind and be with my mother like old times. I'm going to spend it wisely, and make sure my family never forgets the luck we were blessed with in renewing our feelings with Mom and finally setting the record straight that her death isn't our faults so all of us can move on with a smile.

I wipe the tears from my eyes and do just that, I smile and head downstairs. When I was little, Mom used to tell me that first impressions are important, but everyone always deserves second chances.

I'm glad I got mine.

_**Eleven **_**reviews? Are you guys serious? You have me in heaven here! It truly makes me smile to know that people have enjoyed reading this story as much as I have loved each second I spent writing it. I was extremely nervous first coming to the site and sharing my work but you made it very easy for me. I've been writing for a long time, but this is the first story of decent length that I've actually ever finished and I wouldn't have had the ability to without your support. So I know I'm getting all sappy here but I'm going to give a shout out to the readers that have left reviews time after time throughout chapters. So thank you PirateQueen716, PiperPaigeP3, littlemissbad, lizardmomma, PrUe AnD AnDy, pruethesoldier, scme, WHYBENORMAL93, Eye-Of-The-Hurricane, future author at work, 'chuffy-barmed-oc', scare85, xcgirl3, SDAngel4p3, H.S. Pumpkin, and Phoenixlighter. **

**Okay this part is important. I'm considering both sequel and prequel type stories to this. Neither relates exactly to the story, but I love Pattie and she's very much a part of my Charmed world and I'd love to keep her around. I've also got a couple of one-shots planned (Yes Molly, that includes the one I mentioned to you!) but I'd really love to know if you guys like Pattie as much as I do and would like to read up on her more. Should she stay?**

**As I've said in chapters prior, I plan on posting an epilogue soon. Nothing major, just a final closing to the story much like the prologue, but I thought I'd say everything here. Thanks again for your support!**

**Megan**


	17. Epilogue: From Her Eyes

_When I heard the news I'd wanted to cradle her in my arms as some sort of consolation, to tell her she would be okay and that she could face the long journey ahead of her. But I couldn't; I just did as I always had to and sat back, watching as everyone else stepped in instead. This was my job, taken away to be handled by everyone else. Tears pooled in her eyes the day it was confirmed as her husband squeezed her hand with an attempt at confidence, sealing the deal that it'd be okay._

_But I could see it in her eyes; I knew she didn't think it was because of one grave mistake._

_No one else could understand her, I figured, and that was what made it so hard not to just appear with words of advice. I shadowed her every move, feeling the burst of excitement, anticipation and extreme trepidation all puddled into one. This unexpected freedom scared me as much as it did her, but I knew that if she was truly mine, she'd just grow from the experience, as I did. _

_It still showed though, the constant lingering fear that she'd never be ready. _

_When the day came though, nine months later, the baby was beautiful. Ten fingers, ten toes and soft curious eyes that stared up into the eyes of her mother and my daughter._

_ She cried, like the early days where a nightmare would plague her dreams and she'd come running to me with eyes turned cherry red and fraught with fear, like the day she'd realized she was pregnant. Except this time her tears were found not in sadness, but pure joy._

_They placed the tiny infant in her arms and it all came flooding back, the memory of her first day washing over me. I felt myself floating down next to her and staring at this newborn with some new sense of hope. She turned her head my way and a smile crept across her face; that's when I knew I'd been caught. She said nothing though, just a nod of acknowledgment and then her eyes returned dotingly to her first daughter._

_Prudence Ryanne Halliwell. For me, for Prue's father. I never realized what an honor that was until now. _

_At her age the thought of being a mother had petrified me, how could I take care of anyone other than myself, much less do it successfully? When she realized the truth that she was really pregnant at the same age I had been, she quivered at the notion of dying young and leaving her baby girl as I had her._

_Old wounds never really heal, you know._

_Leaving her was the most difficult thing I was ever faced with in life, but being able to watch her grow up so steadily with such courage and faith has been a gift. Death taught me to look at the bigger picture, the benefit from the loss. I look at her knowing there's far more ahead than she can imagine, positive that we've both learned from our past and she will have the chance that I did not, to grow with her daughter. _

_Prudence's crying begins to cease as my daughter rocks the child in her arms, humming the tune I used to sing to her when she was an infant. I never told her the name of it, she's doing this instinctively. _

_The folded note is stuffed into an envelope and resting on the nightstand adjacent to her. She reads the letter as her husband cuddles his first daughter, so careful to make sure she will not break. Words I wrote years and years ago spark a greater inspiration to be the wonderful mother I know she will become._

_My Pattie, the apple that doesn't fall far from the tree. _

**So yes, that was obviously Prue narrating if you didn't get it the first time around. A walk into the future, a look at the next generation. It seemed like a good end. You're going to review, right? I know you will, because this is it. I have officially finished Second Chances. The prequel, Blessing in Disguise and sequel, Mind Over Matter are coming and I will write them simultaneously. Your opinions matter to me, make my last words in Second Chances count!**


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